NiGHTS: Journey Into Tokyo
by ERiN OPPEL
Summary: You asked for it! Part 3 of the 3-part "NiGHTS: Journey Into -Insert location here-" trilogy! Can our heroes make it out of the ruthless streets alive? Or will Wizeman's new alliance plus Owl destroy them for good?
1. Not Again

**Hey, guys! Thanks for waiting so patiently! :D *gets pelted with batteries* …Ok, so it took forever for me to start writing this. I'm sorry. Welcome to the final instalment of the series! Now with 20 percent more Jackle! Enjoy!**

NiGHTS: Journey Into Tokyo

_by ERiN OPPEL_

Chapter One: Not Again

When we last left off, NiGHTS and her friends had found themselves teleported to a bizarre and frightening location: Tokyo, Japan. The group was supposed to arrive in Nightopia after NiGHTS and Reala's wedding in Paris (see Journey Into Paris), but the portal creator sent them in the wrong direction, no thanks to Jackle. Now they were stranded.

Reala clenched and unclenched his fists. He gritted his teeth in an attempt not to yell in rage at the top of his lungs at Jackle. But it didn't work. "!"

NiGHTS quickly stood in front of Jackle and told her mate calmly, "Easy, Reala, I'll handle this." She smiled sweetly and it seemed to relax him. She turned to a now-calm Jackle, grabbed him by the shoulders and shrieked in his face, "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" while shaking him violently.

Surprised by her sudden ferocity, Reala and Clawz managed to drag NiGHTS away from Jackle, "Look," began Clawz, "As much as I would like to stand here and scream at Jackle, I think it would be a better idea if we figured out how to get back home."

"Hey!" Jackle spoke up.

The others looked at him, none too happy. "What?"

"Nothing. I just didn't get to say any lines yet."

Scowling, the others turned and began to walk away.

"Hey, wait up!" said Jackle, following them.

"We'll need to fix the portal creator." Reala was saying. "It's possible we'll need to get some new parts."

NiGHTS frowned. "That means we'll have to buy them. With money. That we don't have."

Clawz spoke, "Well, we do have a few Euros. You think they'll accept them?"

"Let's find out." said Reala. He walked into the nearest store. A few seconds later, he walked out, shaking his head.

"We can't use them?" NiGHTS guessed sadly.

"No, I couldn't understand what the guy was saying." Reala answered.

Jackle suggested, "Maybe he speaks 'Insane'!"

Reala grumbled, "Yeah, I'll bet you're an expert in the 'Insane' language."

Jackle chuckled and said modestly, "Oh, well, I wouldn't say 'expert', hehehe..." The others looked at him with raised eyebrows. "Heh...I'll go talk to him." he said normally. He went inside the store.

NiGHTS and the others looked inside the store window. Jackle seemed to be shouting gibberish and laughing loudly. After a few seconds, Jackle was thrown out. "Some expert." Reala muttered.

"I just didn't know the Tokyo dialect!" Jackle insisted.

Clawz sighed. "Well, looks like we'll have to make money the Japanese way: work in a fish factory." Then his eyes lit up. "Hey, it can't be _that_ bad!" he said very optimistically.

NiGHTS shrugged. "Guess we've got no other choice."

**Heeheehee, what could possibly go wrong with that? Surprisingly, a lot. Sorry the intro was so short, but I wanted to separate it from the next chapter. Please review!**


	2. Dirty Jobs

**Thanks for the reviews! Again, I apologize for the long delay. Anyway, something's about to get fishy...**

Chapter Two: Dirty Jobs

After hours of following the scent trail of fish around Tokyo, NiGHTS and her friends finally arrived at a fish factory. They went inside, ignored the strange looks the employees were giving them, and went up to the employer's office.

The man stared in surprise at the group in front of him and said something in Japanese.

At once, Clawz jumped on the desk and replied...in Japanese.

The others, including the employer, gaped in shock: he because a _cat_ was talking, they because Clawz knew Japanese. So Clawz and the very perplexed employer continued conversing...in Japanese (sorry, that's the last time). Then, Clawz turned to his friends and explained excitedly, "He said he'll let us work here!"

"First of all, why didn't you tell us you could speak Japanese?" Reala asked. "Second of all, WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US YOU COULD SPEAK JAPANESE?"

"Oh. Must've slipped my mind." Clawz replied calmly. "Anyway, he says that our work hours are from 6 to 7."

"Ah, one hour of work isn't so bad." NiGHTS said, smiling.

"6 _a_m to 7 _p_m." Clawz corrected.

"WHAT?"

"Oh, and he said we could sleep in the storage room until we earn enough money for a hotel room."

The others groaned.

"Hey!" Jackle shouted.

"What?"

"I didn't get to say a line in this chapter! I thought this story was supposed to have 20 percent more Jackle!"

Reala looked shocked. "W-where'd you hear that?"

Jackle shrugged. "A little narrator once told me."

Just as Reala was wondering which narrator could possibly have the audacity to make such a horrifying statement, the employer handed out the aprons and led them to the work room. It was as big as a warehouse with rows of giant bins full of fish. Between the rows were aisles where workers stood to gut fish and toss them into boxes that were in large crates along the perimeter of the room. Almost at once, Reala got hit in the face with a fish.

The employer chuckled and said something.

Clawz explained, "He said to watch out where other workers are throwing fish into different crates."

The fish slid off Reala's face, revealing his venomous scowl. "Let's just get this over with." he hissed.

So they went to one aisle and watched what the other workers were doing. Then they looked blankly at the bin in front of them. NiGHTS hesitantly picked up a fish by the tip of its tail and shakily made a tiny cut in its side. At once she dropped the knife and shouted, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you!" She quickly tried wiping the blood away from the cut with the hem of her apron.

Reala saw the workers stop and stare quizzically at NiGHTS and he put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. "Um, NiGHTS? It's already dead." NiGHTS looked up at him and he saw tears well up in her eyes. "Uh-oh..." When NiGHTS started sobbing, he put his arms around her and glared at Clawz.

"What?" the cat asked innocently.

"This was your idea, so therefore you made NiGHTS cry." Reala growled.

Jackle spoke up, holding a fish and a very large knife, "Here, NiGHTS, watch me! I'll show you how to do it!" He maniacally started to chop up the fish and moved on to the ones in the bin.

NiGHTS let out a loud wail and bawled when she saw what Jackle was doing.

Reala snatched Jackle's knife and stabbed it through his apron into the side of the bin. "Stop it! You're not helping!"

Clawz nosed NiGHTS' ankle and asked, "You ok, NiGHTS?"

NiGHTS wiped her eyes and petted the fish in her hands. "The poor little fish..."

A few minutes later, outside...

Reala was speaking, "We are here today to mourn the death of..." he paused, looking at NiGHTS.

"Martha." She sniffed.

Reala continued, "Martha has gone to a better place where she can swim and...swim."

NiGHTS placed a flower on the mound of dirt in front of them and said shakily, "I'll never forget you."

Clawz muttered under his breath to Reala, "This is the weirdest funeral I've ever been to."

After a moment of silence, Jackle piped up, "Well, time to get back to work."

So they organized a system: Reala, Jackle, and Clawz would gut the fish and give them to NiGHTS so she could put them in the crates. When their work for the day was done, they went to the storage room to sleep. Unfortunately when they opened the door...

"WHY IS IT SO COLD?" Reala demanded.

Clawz chuckled nervously. "Well, they have to keep the fish fresh..."

So they all huddled together in a corner, trying to ignore the smell and icy chill as they slept off the tiredness from their first day in Tokyo.

The next morning, they began their next day of work. It was the same old routine: cut, gut, repeat. Even NiGHTS was now doing this with ease, while happily humming.

Reala whispered to Clawz, "What happened to NiGHTS? Yesterday she was a mess!"

Clawz shrugged and gave himself a casual lick. "Eh, NiGHTS was always the cheery type. I don't think she can stay sad for very long. It doesn't matter as long as she's helping out."

Jackle complained, "She's not doing it right! She hasta chop with vigour like this!" And he started to hack up his fish into little bite-sized sushi pieces.

Reala shook his head, then glanced at Clawz. When he noticed that the cat was swallowing one of the fish, he snapped, "Clawz! Spit that out!"

Clawz choked up the fish onto the floor, but couldn't resist giving it a final lick. "What? I'm a cat." he said simply.

Reala scolded, "That's no excuse, we're supposed to be working." He demanded, "How many have you eaten already?"

Clawz looked like he was mentally counting. Then he replied, "2."

Reala relaxed.

"Dozen."

Reala's eyes widened.

"Boxes."

They widened more.

"Per crate."

His jaw dropped.

"...Yesterday."

Reala yelled, "ARE YOU INSANE?" forgetting about the other workers hearing.

Clawz shrunk back a bit. "Hey, don't worry! Today I only ate 1."

Reala took a deep breath and calmed down somewhat.

"...Crate."

"Oh that's IT!" Reala angrily picked up his knife and reached for Clawz, who meowed in fright and tried to get away.

But before Reala could do any damage, their boss burst through the door and shouted, "What is the meaning of this?"

Reala hid the knife behind his back. "I wasn't trying to kill him!" he said quickly. Then he looked confused. "Hang on, I thought you only spoke Japanese..."

"That not important right now!" the boss snapped. "You fired! You all fired!"

Clawz sneered at Reala, "See what happens when your rage gets in the way?"

But Clawz was surprised when their boss pointed to him and shouted, "This is your fault! You eat my fish!"

"What?"

The boss held up fish bones.

Clawz gasped. "How'd you find my secret stash?"

Jackle taunted, "Maybe it's because you left them all over the storage room."

And so they all were shipped out. Literally. Jackle broke through the crate he was in, spat out the styrofoam and asked, "Now what?"

NiGHTS, Reala, and Clawz all broke through their crates and realized that they were in the back of a sushi shop. After cleaning the fish off of them (eating them, in Clawz's case), Reala told the others, "On the bright side, we still have the money he paid us before he fired us."

"How much do we have?" NiGHTS asked.

Reala looked at the bills. "Hmm, it says...Oh who am I kidding; I can't read this. Clawz!" He held the money in front of the cat's face. "What's it say?"

Clawz squinted at the paper money. "Yen."

NiGHTS wondered, "Is that like dollars and euros?"

Clawz shrugged. "Must be." He counted the bills and the numbers on them, then concluded with excitement, "If my calculations are correct, we have 5,000 yen!"

But Reala narrowed his eyes at Clawz suspiciously. "_If_ you're correct?"

"Ok, I'm positive I'm correct."

Then Reala beamed, "Woo-hoo! We're rich!" He and the others started jumping around giddily in a circle like a bunch of Jackles. When they decided to stop being stupid, they went outside.

"Come on!" said Clawz. "Let's go stay in the fanciest hotel!"

NiGHTS glanced around, then announced while pointing, "There's one right over there!"

In short, they all went in. ...Then came back out.

"50,000 YEN?" NiGHTS and Reala yelled in astonishment.

Clawz pointed out, "That was only for the most expensive room, which we don't really need."

The jestery couple relaxed. Then Reala asked, "So what was the price for the cheapest room?"

Clawz shrugged. "Dunno. Let's check."

They went back in. ...Then came back out.

"30,000 YEN?" they all screamed.

NiGHTS sighed, "Guess it's back to 'Alley Boulevard' for us." as she glanced at the row of available alleys down the street. Hobos were even charging other hobos to stay in them.

Noticing, Jackle snapped his fingers with a grin and said, "Now THAT'S a smart idea. Why don't we try it?"

Before Reala could smack Jackle's head off, they all heard familiar voices coming from down the street. These voices were saying, "NiGHTS! NiGHTS, you're back!"

**Don't worry if the story seems too similar to the first two fics, because it's actually gonna get pretty dramatic soon. Just a heads up in case you thought there wasn't gonna be anything new. Reviews, please!**


	3. Wizeman's New Groove

**As if the long wait wasn't enough, I'm gonna create more suspense by showing you what Owl and Wizeman are up to.**

Chapter 3: Wizeman's New Groove

It was nighttime. The full moon glowed over the features of the Dream Gate. Owl and some random boy Visitor he found waited at the fountain, holding a large banner that read, "WELCOME HOME, NEWLYWEDS! :D". They had been waiting for a while, and the only sound they heard were from the crickets.

The boy dropped his side of the banner and complained, "My arms are tired. Can I wake up yet?"

Owl snapped, "Pick that back up! I told you before, we have to wait for NiGHTS and Reala to come home."

"But I have school in the morning!" the kid whined.

"Don't argue with me, boy! You'll wake up when I say." Owl said firmly.

The Visitor groaned and begrudgingly picked up the banner.

Owl scanned the sky and all around them. "Hmm. Something's not right. They should have been here hours ago."

The boy rolled his eyes.

Finally, Owl decided, "Something terrible must've happened! I've got to go find them!" He pushed his side of the banner to the kid and instructed, "You wait right here until I or they get back!"

"But-"

"I have to find their jump scar." Owl muttered to himself. He fluttered around as if sensing something. "Aha!" In a moment, he had disappeared, leaving the Visitor staring after him in confusion.

The evil and now exhausted ruler of Nightmare was slumped in his throne with a hot water bottle on his head and a blanket on his lap, if he even has one of those. A lap, not blanket. Anyway, as Wizeman was sitting there suffering from memories and injuries from the last fanfic, his Nightmarens were huddled behind the door, debating on who's gonna spill the beans about NiGHTS not arriving back in Nightopia.

"You tell him!"

"No, you tell him!"

"Shhh! Keep it down!" Queen Bella hissed. "You tell him, Girania!"

"No way!" Girania protested. "I say Puffy should do it!"

Puffy gasped. "For shame, Girania! Insisting on a beautiful, helpless damsel to be the bearer of bad news!"

At this, Chamelan burst out laughing. He was quickly silenced by Gillwing's tail.

The Nightmarens held their breaths and waited. But no sound came from Wizeman's throne room, and they relaxed.

"Anyway," Gillwing started, "It doesn't matter who tells him."

Bomamba challenged, "Then why don't _you_ tell him?"

Gillwing's eyes widened in fear. "Uh, well, gee, um..." he stammered.

"WILL ONE OF YOU MORONS JUST TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON?" Wizeman's voice boomed from his throne room.

The 'Marens froze. Donbalon approached the group, wiping white powder off his hands on his shirt.

"Sorry I'm late." he said. "But I had to go to the break room before all the donuts were gone. So, what'd you guys say to come here for?"

The other Nightmarens slowly looked at each other and got the same idea. They smiled slyly at Donbalon, who showed a look of nervousness in return.

Donbalon was pushed through the doors of Wizeman's throne room, and were closed by the others to prevent him from escaping. Donbalon gulped and looked up at his master.

"Ah, Donbalon. What is the news?" Wizeman asked calmly. The kind of calm that scares you.

The ball Nightmaren tugged at his collar and began, "Well...the Packers won their big game last night..."

"Oh goodie! I was so hoping they would." said Wizeman with content. "So...what's this about NiGHTS not getting back?"

Donbalon's eyes widened and he suddenly lost his thoughts. "How did- NiGHTS? Not back? Huh? But- You could- Wizeman? He- You- She- I?"

Wizeman groaned, "Yes, I heard everything you delinquents were saying and about how NiGHTS hasn't returned to Nightopia. So what? Good riddance."

"So…how come you're not happy about that?" inquired Donbalon.

Wizeman sighed. "NiGHTS may be out of the Night Dimension, but she's still alive. I have no doubt that she will attempt to stop me when I try to take over the waking world. And let's face it: she may very well win again." The eyes on his hands closed. "Unless she is dead, we have no chance."

Now the rest of the Nightmarens, who just heard what Wizeman said, went inside and crowded in front of him, looking surprised. Queen Bella asked tentatively, "So are you, the great master of nightmares, gonna _really_ let yourself come down to this?"

Wizeman looked dully at them and replied, "Yes."

Chamelan started singing, "Come on Wizeman, where's that old mental altitude?"

"SHUT UP!" the others yelled.

Gulpo encouraged, "Don't give up, Master! Why don't you think of a new plan to take over Nightopia?"

The Nightmare god turned his throne around and sighed, "What's the use? None of my plans work."

"But NiGHTS is gone!" persisted Bomamba. "Now you won't have anyone to stop you!"

"That's what I said the first time I sent her into the real world (see _Journey Into New York_)." Wizeman muttered. "What can I say? I'm a nobody now."

Donbalon mumbled, "You got that right." He was smacked by Bomamba. "Ow! Hey!"

"Aw, gee, Master, don't be like that." Gillwing frowned in pity. "You just have to get your serious groove back!"

Wizeman looked at him. "Serious...groove?"

"Yeah!" Chamelan spoke up. "Remember when you were all 'NiGHTS will be terminated', and 'I have great expectance of you', and that sort of thing?"

Wizeman still looked confused. "I still talk about NiGHTS being terminated and how I have great expectance of only a _couple_ of you Nightmarens."

"Now say that with a little more 'boom'." said Chamelan. "You're a god, so start talking like one!"

"Yeah, come on, Master!" the others encouraged.

Wizeman now looked up thoughtfully. "You're right...I AM a god!" More aggressively, he continued, "What I command shall be done!"

"Yaaaaay!" the Nightmarens cheered.

"NiGHTS WILL be destroyed!"

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaay!"

"And YOU have to go to Tokyo to help me!"

"Yaaaaaaaa-What?"

Wizeman growled, "This is all partially your fault, so you must eliminate NiGHTS once and for all! And you shall be supervised by me!"

"Nooooooooooooooooo!" the Nightmarens cried as they started to run away.

"Oh no you don't!" Wizeman created a portal that sucked them all in before they could escape. Then he jumped in as well.

"!" they (minus Wizeman) screamed as the magic of SEGA transported them back (again!) to the real world. ...I'm just kidding; SEGA doesn't have magic. ;)

**Now you know what Owl and Wizeman are up to. Please review!**


	4. An Happy Reunion

**I've been so stressed out with college and taking care of my ill mom that I almost forgot I was writing a fanfic. Sorry for the long wait.**

Chapter 4: An Happy Reunion

NiGHTS' smile widened when she recognized who had called her. It wasn't hard since the two people were dressed in the exact same clothes they were wearing about 11 years ago. Apparently. "Claris! Elliot!" She waved as they ran up to her.

Claris got there first and gave NiGHTS a big hug, followed by Elliot. "It's so good to see you again!" they said happily.

NiGHTS responded, "You too!" She stepped back to look at them. "My goodness, you've gotten big since last time!"

Elliot pointed out, "Well, last time was 11 years ago. We're adults now."

"Wearing the same clothes from last time." Claris added. "Apparently."

NiGHTS asked, "How'd you know I was here?"

"Well, we've been living here for about two years because of our work," Elliot began, "and we saw you on TV when you were in Paris."

"_Helloooooooo?_" Reala spoke up, clearly annoyed. "Did everyone forget about the red jester and his quadrupeds?"

Clawz laughed nerdily, muttered "Quadrupeds", then Jackle shrieked, "Yeah! Still waiting for that 20 percent more Jackle!"

Claris and Elliot looked behind NiGHTS uneasily. "Uh, is that...?" Claris started, looking nervously at Jackle.

Jackle popped up in front of her with a hyper grin. "Carey! Remember me? I tried to kill you!"

Claris backed up behind Elliot. "Yeah, I'd rather not think about that..." she murmured.

"Aah!" Elliot jumped as he realized something was rubbing against his legs. But when he looked down, it was just a cat. But not just any cat. "Clawz?" he said uneasily.

Clawz sighed and expressed sadly, "Sadly, yes, it is I. Stuck inside this 'kitty' form."

"And I'm Reala, in case you don't know or just forgot." Reala addressed boredly, crossing his arms.

Elliot pointed at NiGHTS' companions and asked her, "Uh, NiGHTS? Why do you have a trio of bad guys following you?"

"It's a long story." NiGHTS told them. "You'd have to read the previous Fanfics (written by ERiN OPPEL)." She turned to your screen. "That goes for you too, in case you haven't already."

Reala groaned, "No! We already broke the fourth wall in the last Fanfic!"

"Well no one would've known if you hadn't said so!" Jackle noted.

Reala realized that Jackle was right. Apparently. "Gaaaah!"

Elliot changed the subject by saying to NiGHTS, "We have so much to catch up on! Did you know Claris and I are engaged?"

Claris said proudly, "He proposed to me this spring." She showed off her ring.

NiGHTS' eyes beamed at the diamond ring and she squealed, "I KNEW you two would get together just fine!" She said in delight, "Oh you're gonna love being married, because I do!"

Clawz noted dryly, "You've only been married for a day and a half."

"I know, and I love it already!" NiGHTS squealed, hugging Reala, who looked chuckled and tried not to look embarrassed.

Now the human couple looked downright bewildered. NiGHTS was married to _Reala_? The logic didn't fit: NiGHTS was always the "good guy" and Reala was the "second-main villain". Guess they're not NxR fans. The pair exchanged glances but tried not to look uncomfortable. Of course, it didn't really work. Actually, it failed completely.

"You're…um…married…" Elliot began slowly.

"…To him?" Claris finished with a raised eyebrow.

Reala could see where this was going, and he wasn't gonna stand for it this time. "That's right, judge a book by its cover! And don't forget to count the inside flap; that's part of the cover too!" He snapped.

NiGHTS frowned in concern. "Reala? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, it's your _friends_ who have a problem." He replied, glowering at them.

NiGHTS rubbed his shoulder and said gently, "They're just scared because they last saw you as a villain. Please don't be mad at them for not understanding."

"But how do we make them understand?" Reala asked glumly.

NiGHTS suggested, "Well, how about saying sorry first?"

Reala thought, then nodded. "Ok." He turned to Claris and Elliot. "Go ahead."

Clawz face-palmed and Jackle snorted.

NiGHTS clarified to her mate, "Um…I meant you should apologize. To them."

Reala looked shocked at first, but then he shuffled his feet and mumbled to Claris and Elliot, "I'm…er…s-sorr…" He felt NiGHTS grab his mouth and help him say the words. "Soorrrry."

Clawz spoke up to the humans, "That's the best you're gonna get, so take it or leave it."

Elliot and Claris exchanged glances, then smiled weakly at Reala. "That's ok." Said Elliot.

Then Claris thought of something and asked NiGHTS, "Hey, do you guys have a place to stay?"

Before NiGHTS could reply, Jackle cut in, "Sure! We've got a nice, cozy alley all to ourselves! And we were even gonna charge other hobos to stay in it!"

"Noooooooooo!" NiGHTS, Reala, and Clawz shouted and pushed Jackle aside.

"What? It's a good idea!" said Jackle.

"Not as good as it used to be." mumbled Reala.

Claris continued, "Well, if you don't have a place, why don't you stay at our apartment?"

NiGHTS beamed. "Really? You mean it? Oh, thank you very much!"

Elliot then whispered to Claris, "Um... all of them?"

Claris' smile faded. "Oh..."

Jackle then popped up in between them and reassured, "Don't worry, we're gonna have loads and loads of fun!"

Claris and Elliot exchanged worried glances.

"Well, here we are." Elliot said as he opened their door, shortly after NiGHTS had summarized the previous Fanfics (written by ERiN OPPEL). It was a cozy little apartment fit for two people. It had two bedrooms and a yellow kitchen with one of those little "islands" in the middle. On the right side, there was a big couch and a low table in front of a TV. Along the walls were pictures of-

"GET ON WITH IT!" Jackle shouted angrily.

NiGHTS looked confused. "Who are you talking to?"

"Whom." corrected Reala.

Everyone looked even more confused at him.

Elliot broke the silence by suggesting, "Then, I guess you two can sleep on the couch. Clawz can sleep in a basket, and we'll set up some newspapers and jellybeans in a corner for Jackle."

"Yay!" Jackle cheered. "Jellybeans!"

Claris yawned. "Well, it's pretty late. Maybe we should get some rest and talk more in the morning." The others agreed. Claris and Elliot said goodnight, then went to their separate bedrooms.

NiGHTS snuggled up close to Reala and murmured. "G'night, Ree."

Reala kissed NiGHTS' face and said, "Sleep tight, NiGHTS."

Clawz shifted uncomfortably in his woven basket. "Hey, can I sleep on the couch with you guys? This basket is itchy."

"No." Reala said at once.

"Of course!" NiGHTS said warmly.

Clawz purred and leaped onto the couch and squeezed in between the two jesters. He curled up contently, resting his tail on Reala's face, much to Reala's annoyance.

Jackle called from his corner, "JELLYBEANS! Oh, good night everyone!"

**This chapter is short because it was cut from the next chapter because I want to focus on NiGHTS' group and Wizeman's group separately****. Reviews will be much appreciated.**


	5. Owl Jumps to Conclusions

**I wanted to upload this chapter over the winter break, but I was busy. Being on a cruise for the first time.**

Chapter 5: Owl _Jumps_ to Conclusions

When we last saw Owl, he had jumped (like in that movie with Hayden Christensen) into the real world and arrived instantaneously in Paris, France. And I realize I could've just said "arrived instantly in Paris", but I wanted it to sound cool. :) ...Ahem. Owl looked around in search for his purple jester friend.

"Good Charlotte, where could they be?" he asked himself. He flew over to one person and demanded, "Have you seen a female purple jester, by any chance?"

Instead of being surprised by a talking owl, the man replied, "Je ne te comprend pas." and kept walking.

Owl huffed, "Well I never." Then he began to sense something. "Hang on...I'm sensing another jump scar somewhere around here..." He fluttered around, following his senses until they led him right under the Arc de Triomph. "Eureka!" And he vanished, confusing anyone who happened to be walking nearby.

Meanwhile, Wizeman was...laughing sinisterly.

"Meheheheheheh..."

Chamelan said cheerfully, "Hey, congratulations! You got your sinister laugh back!"

"Yes. I've also brushed up on my intelligence, so no more stupid remarks from me." He glared warningly at the narrator.

Donbalon yawned and asked, "If you're so smart, why don't you tell us where we are?"

Wizeman growled, "Because I expect you all to have the same intelligence as me. ...But not as good." He then added, "You know what? Since I am your god, I can just do whatever I want with you." He grinned sneakily. "So I'm going to take away all your voices."

"WHAT?" all the Nightmarens cried in disbelief.

Gulpo (in the fish tank with Girania again) asked worriedly, "But how are we supposed to say anything?"

Wizeman explained, "With my intelligence, I'll be good at your charades. It's just like in the video games, you know?"

Puffy complained dramatically, "But I LIVE for my voice! People everywhere MUST hear how beautiful it is!" She began to sing, "In sleep he sang to meeeeeee, in dreams he caaaaaaaame! The PHAAAAAAANTOM of the opera is theeeeeeere inside my MIIIIIIIIIIND-"

Wizeman suddenly zapped her throat with a small black bolt of lightning. And to everyone's shock (and relief), Puffy became silent.

The Nightmaren opera singer realized she couldn't hear herself sing and she flailed around wildly, mouth and eyes wide open.

Wizeman turned to the others. "Now, who wants to go next?"

Each Nightmaren looked at each other, then tried to frantically push each other towards Wizeman.

"I see plenty of volunteers..." Wizeman said tauntingly, charging up.

"NONONONONONONONONO-"

_ZAP!_

All the other Nightmarens were quiet as unicorns. Because unicorns don't exist. Sorry. After Wizeman put away the voices in his cape, he began, "Now that you won't ask any questions, I can finally carry on with my plan. Since NiGHTS is stuck here in Tokyo, she must be at the hands of some of the most vicious humans on this planet. But since I want to kill her myself, I'll hunt down one of those gangs and force them to give NiGHTS to me. Or, I could make them join me. But once NiGHTS is in our grasp, we can finally carry on with taking over the entire world. Any questions?"

The minions quickly raised their hands.

"None of you are begging for me to listen to what you want to say, so we'll just be on our way." Wizeman said with a smirk and started to walk away.

The former Nightmarens sighed, as that is all they can do, and reluctantly followed their master.

Meanwhile again, Owl appeared beside a busy street in Tokyo, in fact the same street that NiGHTS and her friends had arrived at, obviously. "_Whaat?_" Owl exclaimed, glancing around. "Why would NiGHTS come here?" He then began ruling out all the possibilities. "Jackle? Nah, he's moronic and relatively harmless. And Clawz...no, he's pretty tame. Reala?" His eyes narrowed, "Reala." he said darkly. "Of course! It was all a lie. A shameless act. He must've deceived NiGHTS and brought her to this death trap so he could do something evil to her!" Owl flew around quickly. "I have to warn NiGHTS before it's too late!"

**I know it was a short chapter, but Wizeman and Owl get boring quickly. The next one will be much longer, I promise. :)**


	6. Lost in Transportation

**Ok, a lot of ideas going into this chapter... I hope you enjoy it! :)**

Chapter 6: Lost in Transportation

Jackle clicked the remote again. "Hey! This thing controls what shows up in the magic box!"

Reala grumbled from the couch behind him, "It's a television, and you know it."

Jackle giggled. "Yeah, I do." He changed the channel to one of his favourite morning cartoons. "Woo-hoo! Cyberchase is on!"

The red jester groaned, "No! I don't care about a green jerk and his whiny on-and-off girlfriend!"

"But that's the best part!" Jackle reasoned. "Besides, this is the anime version, so all the boring math stuff is taken out and replaced with cool battle scenes!"

Reala looked at him hopefully. "And it's not done in Flash Animation?"

"And the music is original instead of ripped from Garageband!"

"All right!" Reala grinned and sat up to watch.

Clawz walked in after using his litter box. "At least you're not watching Naruto. Hey, see if Sonic X is on."

"Is Chris in the Japanese version?" Reala asked.

"Yeah—"

"Then no."

Clawz sighed and rolled his eyes. He jumped and screeched as the remote was being thrown at him.

"Your turn, Clawz!" Jackle told him. "Cyberchase is over!"

"Aw, I missed the ending!" Reala asked, "What happened?"

Jackle replied, "Hacker won."

Reala sighed in relief. "Finally." The next show started with a cutesy intro where a pink ball was bouncing around and a woman was singing cheerfully:

"_Itsudemo guusukaapii Hoshi no Kaabii…_"

"What…is…THIS?" Jackle demanded.

Reala checked the guide. "Ohh, it's a show about Kirby."

Clawz patted at the screen in amusement. "Heehee! He looks like a squeaky toy."

Reala commented, "It doesn't look too exciting. There's probably not any violence or swearing in it." He felt NiGHTS stir beside him and guessed she was awake. "Rise and shine, cupcake. Get it? 'Cause you're pink and purple…"

NiGHTS slowly sat up and rubbed her stomach. "Ooh, don't mention cupcakes, I'm sooooooooo hungry!"

Claris walked into the room and announced, "Alright everyone, there's a lot to see today!"

Reala stood up at once. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! What are we _seeing_?" he asked suspiciously. "I thought we were going to figure out a way to get us back to Nightopia!"

"Oh." Claris looked a little disappointed. "We thought you guys might like a tour of the city…"

"YEAH! Jackle wants a tour!" shouted Jackle.

NiGHTS smiled at her mate and encouraged, "Come on, Reala. We're here, after all. What do you say?"

The red jester furrowed his brows and sighed. "Oh fine. We can take a stroll."

Claris grinned and tossed a granola bar to each Nightmaren.

NiGHTS looked at her bar. "Um...that's it?"

Reala rolled his eyes and joked, "Don't worry, it's just a promissory note that food will soon be here."

"Like salad!" Jackle piped up.

Elliot frowned. "Sorry, that's all we have right now. We usually order out."

"I can see that by the Styrofoam temple in your fridge." Clawz remarked, closing the door with his hind leg.

NiGHTS quickly devoured her bar, but her stomach still rumbled. "I can't wait 'til lunch." she muttered.

The streets of Tokyo were just as busy that day as they were the previous day. Hang on, didn't I use that type of line in my _Journey Into New York_ fic? Ah well. The point is, it was still busy. Claris and Elliot decided to take NiGHTS and the others to the shops nearby their apartment first, in case they wanted to buy anything. They also pointed out that everything is freakin' expensive in Japan, so whatever yen they had was basically worthless.

And Jackle was being as nosy as ever. "Hey, what's that? Whoa, can we go over there? I wanna see that! Hey, what's for dinner? WOW, LOOK AT THAT!" One shop in particular caught his eye. He didn't see what was inside it because it was dark with strobe lights, so he looked up at the sign. "H-e-n-t-a-i. That sounds cool!" Jackle strolled on in. Then stepped right back out, pale and terrified.

Reala gave him a questioning look. "What was that about?"

Jackle turned to him and shuddered. "You don't wanna know." he squeaked.

"Hey, over here!" Elliot called. When everyone caught up to him at a building farther down the street, he explained, "This here place is a Japanese spa."

Claris added, "It's cheap but very decent."

Elliot went on, "We thought you guys should relax since you've been stressed out so much."

"I'm not stressed!" Reala moaned, rubbing his face in a stressful manner. "And I'm not emo, either!"

NiGHTS ignored him and went inside first. "Why thank you! I've been feeling quite tired." The others followed.

After massages, mud baths, and that thing where they put hot stones on your back, everyone relaxed in some chairs in a warm, aroma-filled room.

"That was great!" NiGHTS said blissfully.

"For you." Reala told her sourly. "Jackle kept hitting me with mud balls."

"BAHAHAHAHAHA!" the card maniac cackled as he munched on cucumber slices.

Clawz was lapping at a small pool of water in the middle of the room. "The fish here are small, but they're not bad!"

Claris' eyes widened and she quickly told the Nightmaren cat, "Clawz! Those fish aren't for eating! They clean people's feet by eating the dead skin cells off them!"

At once, Clawz's eyes and cheeks bulged. He glanced over at other people at the pool who were having their feet cleaned by the fish. He made a tiny whimper, then opened his jaws slowly and let the fish and water fall out of his mouth back into the pool. He made his way back to his friends, shuddering and spitting all the way.

Elliot suggested, "Well if you guys are hungry, we know a great authentic Japanese restaurant that you might like to try out."

NiGHTS and her friends instantly remembered the authentic French restaurant they went to in Paris. Not wanting a repeat of that scenario, they waved their hands and cried, "NO!"

"Aw, come on!" encouraged Claris. "It's not that bad! I'm sure you're going to like it."

"Yeah, well, I'm sure we won't." Reala said as he put his boots back on.

But Claris and Elliot insisted that they at least go inside and see if they're interested. NiGHTS and her friends reluctantly complied. As it turned out, they were right to be so unwilling. Upon entering the restaurant, they were greeted by terrifying sights: a chef pulling a live fish out of a tank and rapidly slicing and dicing pieces of it and arranging it on a plate, another chef boiling squirmy baby eels in a pot, and (gasp!) people using chopsticks instead of forks and knives!

"Not interested!" NiGHTS said, trying not to gag. She and her friends bolted out the door.

Elliot and Claris caught up with them outside, looking apologetic. "Sorry," Claris said. "I guess you're not ready for that yet…"

Clawz shivered. "The only thing that turned me off was the chopsticks."

Elliot smiled. "That's ok. We know this great hamburger place a couple blocks away from here."

"YAY!" the others cheered. "MEAT!"

"...This isn't McDonald's!" Jackle complained.

Claris looked confused. "We never said it was."

"You said great hamburger place!"

Reala hissed, "Shut up. It's food." He walked inside with the others.

Inside the restaurant, there were posters of some of the restaurant's popular products. All of them looked juicy, tantalizing, and very much dead. Near the entrance sat a big, stuffed koala on display.

Jackle gasped in delight and ran up to the cashier. "I want one burger! No, two! I want more burgers than Reala!"

Eventually they all got served. At their table, the Nightmarens excitedly opened their burgers like they were Christmas presents. But like some presents, these were...disappointing.

"It's not...juicy..." Jackle said in a small voice, gazing down at his flattened-looking food.

Reala bit into his burger, only to wince and groan, "This is horrendous!" He spat it back out in his wrapper. "Not even a starving prisoner in Wizeman's castle would eat this!"

"These look nothing like the poster!" Clawz whined, pushing his food away.

Reala narrowed his eyes near the entrance. "I suspect that stuffed koala out front is meant to signify where this meat comes from."

However, NiGHTS was happily munching. "I don't know what you're talking about, these are great!"

Everyone gaped at NiGHTS with astonished looks.

In the end, Jackle was the one who cried. "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

As they left the restaurant, Claris commented sadly, "It _used_ to be the best place."

"HEY LOOK!"

Everyone but Jackle jumped in surprise, because Jackle was the one who surprised them.

He showed them a map he randomly had. "This map says that we can go through Subway to get to the Pokémon Company!" he said in excitement. "Let's go! Subway means subs!"

Elliot corrected, "Actually, that's just the subway train. But if you guys are interested in seeing the Pokémon Company, we can take a tour."

"The subway's pretty fun." Claris told them. "It goes really fast, so you might like it."

"Yeah!" Jackle punched the air. "I LOVE going fast!"

"You weren't loving it so much when you were riding in my motorcycle, remember?" Reala reminded him.

"That's just 'cause you were driving."

Reala took that as a personal insult and "humphed".

When they got down to the subway, they all bought their tickets and waited for a train. When the next one came, the doors opened and they got on. The Nightmarens were a little surprised that it was empty.

NiGHTS shrugged. "Looks like we're the only ones he-" she was cut off when a huge crowd of people charged into the car and squashed NiGHTS and her friends. The phrase "packed like sardines" perfectly describes their state. They couldn't even feel how fast they were going because there was no room for inertia's force to push them around.

"Can't...breathe..." NiGHTS gasped.

"Stupid...mortals..." Reala grumbled.

"Must...talk...like...this..." Jackle wheezed.

After what seemed like ages, the train stopped and the mass of people squeezed out of the car like toothpaste. The Nightmarens, finally free, collapsed on the platform, gasping and panting. They were about to get up, but then another swarm of people trampled on them to get in the subway car. "OW! OOF! HEY! PLEASE! STOP!"

Claris and Elliot walked up to them normally once the people were finished cramming inside the car. "Are you guys ok?"

All they could do was groan.

Jackle suddenly looked up. "Wait a second, where's Clawz?"

They all heard a muffled cat yowl and turned around. Squished against the window on the inside of the subway car was Clawz. His jaws parted in a desperate cry as the train sped off into the dark tunnel.

"CLAWZ!" the others cried.

"We gotta go after him!" Jackle said, about to jump onto the tracks to follow the train.

Elliot held him back. "Don't worry, that train stops not far from the Pokemon Company. As long as he gets off at that one stop, we should be able to catch up to him."

"And if he doesn't?" questioned Reala.

Elliot frowned and scratched his head. "Then we might have a problem."

NiGHTS shrugged, "Clawz can take care of himself. I'm sure he'll find us with no trouble at all."

"Yeah! He can just sniff his way back to us!" Jackle said optimistically. "…Right?"

"Let's hope so." Reala replied. "Either way, we can't stay here in this dungeon."

The others agreed and went to the Pokémon Company.

"That was SO COOL!" Jackle exclaimed, grinning at himself in the screen of his newly acquired DSi. "I didn't even know Pokémon Black and White came out yet!"

"I'm glad you like it!" NiGHTS smiled at Jackle.

A group of Japanese teenage boys were walking past and they noticed Jackle's DSi. One of them snickered, "Hey, look at that kid's crummy little DSi!"

Another one said, "That is soooooo 3 years ago! The 3DS is way superior!"

"What a loser!" a third one jeered. They all walked away laughing cruelly.

Jackle frowned sadly. Then he tossed his DSi in a trash can.

"We should get back to the subway." said Claris. "Clawz might be there by now, waiting for us."

When they did, they waited for the same train that Clawz had been stuck on. But when it came...

"What happened to the train?" Reala exclaimed in shock. Somehow, the entire subway train had been damaged. There were giant claw marks on the sides and it made a loud screech as it came to a stop. Then the doors fell open and everyone exited as if nothing had happened.

But NiGHTS and her friends were flabbergasted. "I didn't see Clawz!" NiGHTS said in worry.

Jackle inspected the train. "I've got it! Godzilla did this!"

Reala rolled his eyes. "Godzilla?"

"Yeah! But not that 1998 one, the 1954 one. Or it could've been Angillus." Jackle looked up thoughtfully. He gasped. "Or it could've been Ghidrah, the three-headed monster!"

The conductor, who had gotten outside to put the doors back into place, grumbled, "No, it wasn't any of them, it was a cat."

NiGHTS then asked the conductor, "Where did the cat go?"

He pointed in one direction. "Somewhere towards the site of the Imperial Palace."

"We know where that is!" Elliot spoke up. "Come on, he can't be too far away!" He and the others left quickly.

"Well we didn't find Clawz along the way, but this Imperial Palace looks worth touring." NiGHTS commented as she and her friends entered the Palace.

Jackle whined, "We just got here and already it's boring!" He looked to the side and caught sight of some fireworks on display. 'Nuff said.

NiGHTS and the others, however, kept on walking deeper into the palace. "Wow, this place really reminds me of Nightmare Castle." Reala remarked, gazing around. They were just entering the throne room, where a sound was coming from.

NiGHTS was busy looking at the tall pillars that she accidentally tripped over someone who was kneeling. "Ow! Watch it!" she whined, getting up. Then she realized that the whole floor was crowded with people on their knees. They seemed to be chanting and bowing, all in the direction of the throne.

Then a man in a white robe scolded NiGHTS and the others in Japanese and knocked them down on their hands and knees.

"Police brutality!" NiGHTS cried and cowered on the cold marble ground.

"I'll kill him!" Reala snarled, starting to get up.

"No, wait!" Elliot stopped him. "He said we need to show respect."

"Respect for what?" the red jester growled.

Then NiGHTS looked up at the throne and cooed, "Awwww, look at the cute kitty!"

Reala's eyes widened and he said, "NiGHTS, that 'cute kitty' is Clawz! And what's worse, WE'RE SHOWING RESPECT FOR HIM!"

Indeed, Clawz was sitting comfortably in the throne, and everyone was worshipping him!

NiGHTS and the others quickly crawled up to the throne and whispered, "Clawz! Hey, Clawz! Down here!"

Clawz's ears swiveled and he peered down. "Oh. It's you." he said briefly, then straightened up.

NiGHTS looked confused. "Clawz, what's going on? And why are you acting so snooty?"

The tip of Clawz's tail twitched in annoyance and he replied snobbishly, "I've no time for fellow commoners. Especially ones that _abandoned_ me!"

Jackle pretended to look shocked at his friends. "You did _what_?"

Reala ignored him and countered, "You were the one who was stuck to the subway window!"

"We didn't abandon you, Clawz!" Claris told him. "We came back to the subway to find you, but you were gone! Honest!"

Clawz sniffed haughtily. "I'm sure you did. _After_ going to the Pokémon Company!"

Reala muttered, "We also stopped for snacks on the way…"

"But Clawz-" NiGHTS began, but Clawz cut her off.

"I am a mythical god of ancient Japan; I cannot be seen talking to such lowlifes as yourselves." Clawz tilted his head up proudly. "Now leave."

Reala scowled, "Clawz, when I get you, I'll-"

"I command you: LEAVE!"

All of a sudden, there were loud explosion sounds and the palace began to shake and break apart. The people screamed and ran for their lives.

NiGHTS cried out as a piece of the ceiling almost crashed down on her. "Reala! What's happening?"

Reala grabbed her arm. "I don't know, but we're getting out of here!" He and the others started to head for the exit.

Clawz clung to his throne as bright flashes and sparks of colour whizzed by. "Wait! Everyone be calm! I'm sure it's just a light tremor!" he meowed shakily. He noticed his friends were leaving. "Hey! Guys! Wait for meeeeeeee!" He jumped off his throne and followed them.

As soon as everyone had made it safely outside, the rest of the palace crumbled down. When the smoke cleared, Jackle appeared beside his friends and howled with laughter. "Oh MAN! Those were some fireworks, huh guys? I wish they could rebuild it so I can do it again!"

NiGHTS and her friends turned slowly to Jackle with expressions that said, "Oh no he didn't..." Reala, however, literally said:

"YOU DESTROYED THE IMPERIAL PALACE?"

Jackle looked up proudly. "Yup! Took me 10 seconds! 11, tops. Hey, wanna go to Subway?"

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?"

Jackle reasoned, "Well it was going to be destroyed in 2012 anyway!"

"People reading this after 2013 will think you're stupid, Jackle." NiGHTS pointed out.

Clawz then ran up to them, panting. "My palace...it's RUINED!" he wailed.

"_Your_ palace?" NiGHTS turned to him, questioningly. "_They_ thought you were a god just because you can talk!"

"I'm also blue with stripes." Clawz mumbled.

Suddenly, the man with the white robe came shouting angrily at Clawz in Japanese. Then all the other people started joining in, closing in on the cat.

Clawz, panicked, mewed feebly, "N-no! Wait! I didn't do it! I'm a nice god!"

"Drop the act." Reala grumbled.

Elliot glanced around uneasily at the angry mob. "Guys, I think we should just get out of here." The others had no trouble agreeing and they fled. It was a bit hard to escape the crowd, but eventually they got away safely by hiding in an alley.

"Phew, that was close." Claris sighed. She glanced at the sunset and spoke, "There is one more thing that we should go to in order to conclude today's tour."

"Yeah, an insurance company for the destruction fees of MY palace!" Clawz demanded.

"Give it up, already!" Reala growled.

"Never!" Clawz shouted. SLAP! As NiGHTS brushed her hands together to show that she was proud in her slap, Clawz groaned, "Ok, I'll go back to being a normal kitty."

"Good." NiGHTS said. She turned back to Claris and asked, "Now, what was that one place that you wanted to go to?" So she and the others began to follow Claris and Elliot down the street.

Reala, however, was fed up with Jackle's stupidity, so he pulled him back as the others kept going. "Ok, listen, you." he hissed. "I've had it up to here with your foolishness. If you don't start behaving, you'll..." Reala paused, thinking. Then, he got a dark idea. Grinning slyly at Jackle, he finished, "...burn up."

Jackle looked suspicious. "What do you mean, 'burn up'?"

Reala explained, "You see, there's this phenomenon called Spontaneous Combustion. It literally means...you will burn up spontaneously. And it only happens to stupid, troublesome boys."

Jackle's eyes widened in fear. "You mean..." He gulped. "Boys like me?"

The red jester sneered darkly, "Boys _exactly_ like you." He continued walking. "So I suggest you better beware of your actions from now on."

Jackle followed timidly, a look of horror and anxiety on his usually cheerful face.

"COOL!" NiGHTS gasped in awe. "...What is this?"

"It's a Japanese pop music concert." answered Elliot. "There are many Japanese singers here, like Utada Hikaru, BoA Kwon, Olivia Lufkin-"

"What, no Britney Spears?" asked Reala. The others turned their heads and stared quizzically at Reala. He glanced side to side and lied at once, "Jackle said it."

"I did not!" Jackle indignantly shouted.

Reala moved in close to Jackle and menacingly hissed, "Oh _yes,_ you did."

Jackle nervously laughed, "Uh, of course I said it! Heheh. And whatever Reala says I said is true, too! Sorry everyone! Uh, heheheh."

Reala moved back satisfied. "Now that we have that settled, let's split up! Claris and Elliot can get the snacks, Clawz and NiGHTS can buy some T-shirts, Jackle can just stand here, and I will go buy the tickets."

"I wanna buy the snacks too!" Jackle spoke up.

Reala sneered, "No, you _don't_."

Instantly Jackle was laughing nervously again. "I mean I _don't_ want to buy the snacks! I'll just stay here like I'm supposed to. Heheh."

"I knew you'd correct yourself." Reala slyly remarked. As most of the others went to their respective destinations, Reala walked up to a ticket booth. Inside stood a young Japanese woman in a standard uniform. "Hi there. I'd like 6 tickets for the concert that doesn't include Britney Spears."

The woman responded in Japanese, much to Reala's confusion.

"Uh, sorry, I didn't catch that."

She pointed around the booth. "Other side English." she said in a heavy accent.

"Oh, ok." Reala walked around to the other side of the booth where he saw another woman inside...who looked oddly familiar...

"Hello, how may I help you?" she greeted in perfect English.

Reala blinked in confusion. "Uh...weren't you just on the Japanese side?"

"No, that was my identical twin sister." the lady replied with an innocent smile.

But Reala was still suspicious. "Hmm...I'll be right back." He walked a bit away from the booth, then quickly ran to the Japanese side. "Aha- huh?" But the Japanese woman was standing right there.

"Konnichewa." she greeted.

Reala still wasn't buying it. "All right, I know you can speak English, so just drop the act."

But the woman replied in Japanese.

"Hmm..." He swiftly ran back to the English side.

"Hello."

Reala looked back at the Japanese side, then the English side. "Ok, I don't know how you do it, but I'm just gonna order the tickets anyway. 6, please." After the woman gave him the tickets, Reala snuck away to the Japanese side.

"Konnichewa."

"...D'oh!"

The strange incident was soon forgotten as Reala and the others enjoyed a rockin' concert with everyone's favourite J-Pop singers. With a day so perfect- all right, maybe 'perfect' isn't the right word. With a day filled of adventure, what else could go wrong? Well, for one thing, someone in the audience was holding a spike ball and was aiming it at NiGHTS...

**I decided to leave this chapter at a cliff-hanger for dramatic purposes. You guys don't mind, right? Also, the world will not end in 2012, so don't freak out. **


	7. Owl Sucks

**Chapters should be going up every week now that I'm on summer vacation. If they don't, please remember that I have a life and am not devoted to the Internet.**

Chapter 7: Owl Sucks

Queen Bella in her human form was at it again, trying to assassinate the jesters and kitty Nightmarens. She chose the concert since it was populated enough to hide in the crowd. Spike ball in hand, she aimed at NiGHTS. When the last song was finished, the audience stood up and cheered, including NiGHTS. "Now's my chance!" Bella hissed in her head as she launched the ball.

NiGHTS was cheering loudly, until, "YAAAAAAAA- Ow! Cramp!" She instantly sat down, conveniently avoiding the spike ball's path. It went over her head, bounced off the stairs, and into a snack box being held by a snack seller.

Someone near the snack seller noticed the spike ball and squealed, "Kare wa asashindesu!". For the point of randomness in this fanfic, this is heard by everyone in the concert hall, who rush around panicking. (Note: this is not to convey any sort of stereotype. Any that are offended have my apologies.)

"Why are they running?" Reala asked. "What'd that broad say?"

Clawz was looking around fearfully and replied, "She said someone's an assassin! So be very quiet, and don't look like a target."

Reala glanced around and said sarcastically, "It's a good thing we're not the only ones wearing jester costumes or we would _really_ be in trouble!"

Jackle added, "Yeah, that's a fact."

"Let's go through the emergency exit." Elliot said, leading them.

"Come on, NiGHTS." Reala helped his mate through the crowd following the others. Soon, the only ones left standing in the concert hall were the snack seller and Bella.

Queen Bella walked toward the seller and snatched the spike ball. She then held up a sign that said, "That's _mine_, thank you very much." (Remember? She lost her voice?) After she walked out, Bella grabbed her video-cellphone and sign-languaged (Get it? _Sign_-language? Ah, forget it), "Master Wizeman, the rebel Nightmarens have escaped the building."

Wizeman shouted into his walkie-talkie, "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO KILL THEM! HOW COULD YOU LET THEM ESCAPE? I OUGHTA- ahem!" He cleared his throat, then restarted, "You have failed me again, Queen Bella. I'm beginning to lose my patience. Now find those Nightmarens again and _murder_ them this time. Then maybe I'll finally rule the Night Dimension once and for all! But if you happen to fail the next time, then I shall deal with you accordingly..."

Bella gulped and replied (in sign-language), "Yes, Master Wizeman. I shall find those Nightmarens again."

"You _shall_?" Wizeman asked menacingly.

Queen Bella scratched her previous sentence out with her marker and corrected (in sign-language), "I am _going_ _now_ to find those Nightmarens."

"Good. Mehehahahaha!"

Bella put away her video-phone and thought, _I just _had_ to be stuck talking like Wile E. Coyote._ Or something random like that. I can't really remember now.

* * *

NiGHTS sat down on the couch and sighed, "This was a wonderful day! Maybe this could be a regular thing! But without losing Clawz, of course."

Reala stated seriously, "NiGHTS, we should really concentrate on finding a way home. We can't afford any more delays."

"But Reala, this place is amazing!" NiGHTS said, scooting closer to him. "What's the harm in spending a few more days enjoying ourselves, hmm?"

"Well for one thing, the Japanese are crazy." he pointed out, remembering the pop concert. "Anyway, we can enjoy ourselves in the Night Dimension." Reala paused and looked down sadly. "We still never had our honeymoon…"

NiGHTS laughed a little. "Aw, is that all you're worried about?" She hugged him and kissed his cheek. "Don't worry, we'll be relaxed and Jackle-free before you know it!"

Reala continued, "There's more. I've got a feeling Wizeman will be back to finish us off."

His mate waved her hand dismissively, "We've beaten him before. I doubt he'd even try again."

Reala leaned his head against NiGHTS' and sighed, "I hope you're right."

Claris and Elliot walked into the living room and glanced at the other Nightmarens. Clawz was sleeping on the rug, dreaming of being a god. Jackle was surprisingly quiet, tossing cards into the air. "NiGHTS? Could we talk privately for a minute?" Claris asked.

NiGHTS glanced at Reala but couldn't read his expression. So she shrugged and said, "Sure." She followed Claris and Elliot into one of their bedrooms.

Elliot started impatiently, "Would you care to explain the meaning of this?" He closed the door, revealing Owl standing on the bed, looking cross.

"Uh..." NiGHTS glanced back and forth, then screamed, "AAH! An owl! Run, Claris and Elliot!" She tried pushing her friends out of the room.

"Hey! NiGHTS, what're you-"

NiGHTS struggled against her friends as she continued, "Don't worry about me, get out while you can!"

"Oh!" Claris groaned and managed to close the door before they could be pushed out. Glaring sternly at NiGHTS, she said, "Your pet bird here told us everything."

"Uh..." NiGHTS decided to change gears a bit. "Oh look at the cute birdy!" she squealed.

"Oh stuff it!" Owl flew up to NiGHTS until he hovered just inches from her face. "You're coming home _right now_!"

NiGHTS stepped back and asked, "What? But why? And how'd you get here anyway?"

Owl sighed heavily. "Look, I don't have a lot of time to explain. Just thank goodness I got here in time."

The purple jester tilted her head in confusion. "In time for what?"

Owl lowered his voice. "It's Reala. He kidnapped you here so that he could do something terrible to you!"

NiGHTS' mouth dropped in shock. "How can you say that? Reala is my husband! He _loves_ me!"

Elliot put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "NiGHTS," he said quietly, "I know you sincerely believe that, but...I think Owl is right. He's too dangerous, and Clawz and Jackle can't be trusted either. Maybe it's best that they leave."

NiGHTS whipped her glare at Elliot now. She roughly shrugged off her friend's hand. "No. He's wrong. You're wrong! Reala and I have been through everything together! In New York, he kissed me in the middle of the street in front of everyone! In Paris, he proved his love for me by flying to the top of the Eiffel Tower on a motorcycle to save me from Wizeman! After that he proposed, we got married, and here we are! Why would he do all that if he didn't love me? We arrived in Japan because the stupid portal creator was broken!" NiGHTS panted, suddenly so frazzled. She frowned when she saw Elliot's and Owl's saddened expressions. She turned to Claris, who she was most close to. "Claris," she began, her eyes watering, "you believe me, don't you?"

Claris looked away. Tears were forming in her eyes now as she spoke softly, "NiGHTS, I'm sorry..."

NiGHTS stared at her, completely hurt. She faced all three of them now. "I...I don't believe what I'm hearing..." She blinked back her tears and revealed her rage. "I'm getting out of here!" She stormed out of the room, wiping her eyes.

Claris, Elliot and Owl went after her and Owl told her in concern, "Now NiGHTS, don't be rash. You can't go out at this time! There are slightly less dangerous people out there!"

"Reala! Jackle, Clawz, we're leaving!" But when NiGHTS got to the living room, she froze.

Reala, Jackle, and Clawz- were gone.

Owl narrowed his eyes. "Hmm...now this is very suspicious."

NiGHTS clenched her head in her hands and yelled out of frustration, "I HATE YOU!"

Everyone else stared at her in total astonishment.

Suddenly, NiGHTS realized what she just said. Putting her hand to her puzzled face, she said to herself, "I've never felt hate before. Not real hate..."

Claris hesitantly suggested, "Why don't you get some sleep? I'm sure you'll feel much better tomorrow."

NiGHTS wanted to scream and protest that she wanted to find her friends that night, but she had no more energy, emotional or physical. So she just sighed. "Ok." she muttered. Turning her sad gaze to the window, she breathed, "I just hope they're ok..."

**Just a reminder, this is a humour fanfic. :)**


	8. How to be a Hobo

**Sometimes chapters have certain details that would be good to remember because they would be relevant later on. This may or may not be one of those chapters.**

Chapter 8: How to be a Hobo

"Remind me…ugh…why we're…huff…running away?" Jackle strained.

Reala, who was riding piggyback on Jackle, clenched his teeth. "You heard those pathetic humans. They said, 'I hate those evil Nightmarens. Let's get rid of them.'"

Clawz's ear twitched. "For your information, they said, 'Maybe it's best that they leave.'" He gave Reala a quizzical look, but decided not to ask about the piggyback ride.

"Ah whatever! The point is, we're not wanted." Reala scowled. He kicked Jackle's sides. "Walk faster."

Jackle groaned softly then struggled to speed up.

Clawz then pointed with his tail to an alley and said, "Look! There's an alley! And there aren't any hobos in it!"

"Let's dibs it! Quick!" said Reala. He glared at Jackle and kicked again. "I said 'quick'!" He wasn't trying to be mean. Or rather, he wasn't intentionally mean, he was just troubled. What would NiGHTS do when she found out they were missing? Would she care? Would she believe Owl and the humans? Does NiGHTS _really_ trust him? The red jester sighed. He didn't think he would get any sleep that night.

* * *

Wizeman looked upon his Nightmarens. Most of them were in human form, while others were in their respective animal forms. All of them were silent, as Wizeman had liked so. "Now," began Wizeman. "Do you have any results?" Silence. "None of you have a tale to tell? At least the whereabouts of NiGHTS?"

Queen Bella then remembered seeing NiGHTS and her friends with Claris and Elliot at the concert. _If anywhere, she must be with them!_ thought Bella. She had to tell Wizeman. Bella quickly found a blank sign and her marker. She began to write, "NiGHTS and her"

"Bella, do not doodle while I am waiting." Wizeman sneered. "Since no one seems to have anything to tell me, then I shall talk about my new plan."

Bella quickly continued, "friends are with the"

Meanwhile, Wizeman spoke, "We shall split up the city into many areas, and each Nightmaren shall examine a territory."

Bella tried to continue writing, but her marker was running out of ink. Desperately, Bella quickly scribbled on the sign to try to get the ink going, but it had run dry.

"Queen Bella, I'd appreciate it if you'd stop squeaking." Wizeman sighed impatiently. He went on, "Every Nightmaren shall patrol his or her area..."

Bella rummaged through her bag of weapons, trying to find a new marker. In the process, she scattered the contents on the floor noisily.

Wizeman abruptly turned to her and snapped, "Do I have to give you a time-out?"

Bella quickly shook her head.

"Then clean up that mess you made." He resumed his plan.

Bella huffed and packed up her things. She then noticed that Chamelan was chewing on her spare marker and she snatched it.

"Hey!" Chamelan said with his expression.

Queen Bella ignored him and continued to scribble down her message.

"...And we will all close in on this specific location and destroy NiGHTS. Any questions?"

No one raised their hands.

"Good. Dismissed." With that, Wizeman left.

_And...done!_ Bella thought. She held up her sign, but Wizeman was already gone. _...Dang it!_

* * *

Reala was struggling to stay asleep for a few more minutes, but he could feel himself waking up as the sun rose. He was also murmuring in his sleep. "Hrrmm...pink elephants..."

"Oh ho! Pink elephants!" Howls of laughter surrounded Reala, waking him up.

"AAAH!" he yelled as he jumped up. Reala saw a group of Japanese hobos around him. "Who the heck are you?" he demanded.

The one who spoke earlier replied, "We are you!"

"Huuh?"

"Homeless persons!" the man clarified. His cheerfulness was somehow unfitting, but Reala didn't pay much mind.

The red jester put his head back down. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I'll be going back to sleep." Just as he closed his eyes, the hobo pulled him back up. "Hey! What the-?"

"We homeless persons must help out each other, hmm?"

"Uh...look, I'm not really a homeless person, I'm just a Nightmaren trying to find his way home." Reala admitted, whether they believed him or not. He didn't care, anyway.

The leader hobo's face lit up when he saw a glittery object on Reala's hand. "Oooh, is that a ring?"

Reala looked at his wedding ring. "What's it look like?" he asked sharply.

"Can I hold it?" the man asked excitedly.

"No!" Reala put his right hand over his ring. "It's my wedding ring. I paid a lot for it! Plus, I had to buy another for my wife."

The leader hobo begged, "Please, just for a second! I've never even held one! It would be my dream to touch something gold!"

Reala figured he wasn't gonna get rid of these hobos until he met their wishes. Sighing, he reluctantly took off his ring and gave it to the hobo. "There. _One second_."

The leader hobo smiled bigly at him. "Thanks!" He and his gang quickly sped off.

"What? HEY!" Reala started after them. "I thought hobos were supposed to help out each other!"

"But you're not a hobo!" the leader reminded gleefully.

Reala chased after them out of the alley, but he had lost them in the crowd of people bustling to and from the subway. Heart pounding, Reala frantically searched for the thieves. Unfortunately, they had escaped. "Those...ingrates!" Reala yelled in frustration. He couldn't believe he had fallen for that trick. He didn't want to imagine what NiGHTS would say when she found out that his ring was stolen. Reala decided not to think about it, and lumbered back to the alley where Clawz was grooming himself, but Jackle was gone.

Clawz noticed him and looked up. "Oh, there you are, Reala." He licked his paw and swiped it over his ear. "Jackle said he was getting safety equipment, whatever that means. Anyway, where were you? I didn't hear you get up." The cat then noticed Reala's crestfallen look. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Reala sat down beside Clawz. "Can you keep a secret?"

Clawz's ears shot up. "Ooh, I love secrets! Do tell!"

"Ok, but you can't tell _anyone_. Especially NiGHTS."

Clawz gasped. "Are you cheating on her for real this time?"

"No!" Reala scowled in annoyance. "Sheesh. Ok," he lowered his voice as Clawz leaned in close, "some hobos tricked me and stole my wedding ring."

Clawz nodded, understanding. "Ok." There was a pause, then he asked, "Why is that a problem?"

Reala looked bewildered. "Did you even hear what I said?"

Clawz flinched. "Of course I did. So? Just buy a new one."

"You don't understand! That's not just any ring!" Reala told him. "It's my _wedding_ ring! A symbol of love between NiGHTS and me!"

"Then you didn't lose your love for NiGHTS, you just lost the symbol."

Reala was about to fire back, but he realized that Clawz did have a point. "I...I guess you're right. But still, it's important. How can you not see that?"

Clawz sat up. "Well, I'm just a cat. I have no need for rings and such. I didn't have to give Nimia anything but a promise that I will love her forever. Isn't that also what you promised NiGHTS?"

"Yes...ok, but think of how NiGHTS would feel!"

"If NiGHTS really loves you, which she does, I think she'd understand." Clawz frowned as he thought of something else. "Then again, she might get mood-swingy, as all females are."

Reala stood up determinedly. "Then I've gotta get that ring back! And _you_ gotta help me!"

Clawz's ears nearly jumped out of his head. "Me?" His expression changed to a carefree grin. "I was just kidding; NiGHTS wouldn't mind!"

Reala paced around. "We have to start looking for those hobos, but we can't make it so obvious that NiGHTS would find out. Better not tell anything to Jackle about it."

"Speaking of Jackle," Clawz started suspiciously, "he's been doing a lot of things for you lately. Shining your boots, giving you piggyback rides, complimenting you on command… What's going on?"

Reala tried to look nonchalant. "Nothing. I mean, I don't know what you're talking about."

Clawz leaned in close and whispered, "I want in."

"In on what?"

Reala turned around and saw Jackle wearing a fireman costume, a pressurized water system, and carrying a fire extinguisher. "WTF?"

Jackle grinned as confidently as he could. "Might as well be prepared!"

Ignoring Jackle, Reala told Clawz, "I last saw the thieves going into the subway."

Clawz instantly backed up. "Oh no, uh-uh! I'm NOT doing that again!"

Reala then pleaded, "Come on, Clawz! I promise I won't lose you this time!"

The cat glanced at Reala suspiciously and asked, "How can you be so sure?"

(Later)

"A leash. Really?"

"Clawz, do you want to get lost in the subway again?"

"Only if it brings me back to the palace."

"I thought we told you to give that up already!"

"Ok! I was just joking!"

Reala sighed and dragged Clawz out of the pet shop. As they walked, Reala commented, "You gotta like your leash. I even paid extra yen to have them engrave your name on it. In JAPANESE!"

Clawz examined his collar and remarked, "I guess it looks kind of cool. It has that sort of 'almost tamed' look."

Jackle added, "Yup! It was either that, or the 'Hello Kitty' collar!"

"Believe me," began Reala, "if I chose 'Hello Kitty', I would be humiliating _myself_."

* * *

Elliot and Claris stared at the door leading to wherever NiGHTS was sleeping. "Are you sure that NiGHTS won't mind going with Owl back to the Dream World?" Claris asked Elliot.

"Look, we both know that NiGHTS is too attached to Reala. She has to leave him behind in order to protect herself." Elliot then shuddered and continued, "Besides, Reala will probably make his move by targeting us! We can't risk NiGHTS' safety anymore."

"I agree completely!" Owl spoke while he fluttered onto Claris' shoulder. "If Reala comes here after NiGHTS leaves, then he'll just try to find a way to the Dream World. While he's trying to find a way, we can call the police on him so that he'll be stuck in this world. Oh, what a plan!"

"I guess we have to tell NiGHTS the news first." Claris said. The three of them opened the door to the room. Surprise, surprise; NiGHTS is gone.

"Oh no!" Owl cried. "NiGHTS must be found at once!"

* * *

Reala, Jackle, and Clawz stopped at a bar for a bathroom break, because this is a fanfic about reality. While Reala went to the men's room, Clawz tried to beg for scraps from the customers, as they were dangerously low on money for food.

Jackle had been trying his luck with a Pachinko machine in hopes of winning more yen. "Come on, lucky 7! Oops, wrong game." Unfortunately, he lost once again and the screen displayed the words "You Lose!" in Japanese accompanied by a "game over" tune. Jackle sighed wistfully, "Someday I'll get the winning screen."

"Let's go, Jackle!" Reala called as he and Clawz walked out the door empty-handed. He scanned the Tokyo streets, searching for the gang of hobos. "They are out there somewhere..." said Reala as he walked down the sidewalk with Clawz literally in tow.

"Yowl! Don't drag me! Wait for me to catch up to you!" groaned Clawz as he struggled to get on his feet. "Do you really _have_ to find those hobos? I know we covered this, but maybe NiGHTS wouldn't care about the ring. She was always a Nightmaren that didn't get attached to anything in particular."

"Except for me and everything to do with me." reminded Reala. "So I must get my ring back from-"

"Scary hobos! AAH!" screeched Jackle, pointing across the street with his plastic fire hose. Reala looked in that direction and indeed saw the gang of hobos. The leader was wearing the ring on his left index finger. He glanced across the street too, and he saw Reala. The hobo told his fellow men to hurry, and they soon ran down their sidewalk.

"Oh no you don't!" Reala shouted as he pursued them from his sidewalk. On both sides, Reala and the hobo were racing to an intersection. If Reala could get there first, he could easily cross the street and intercept the hobos.

Oh, and behind Reala, Clawz was desperately avoiding ground obstacles like people, fire hydrants, and mailboxes. "Ack! This leash was a bad idea, Reala!" Clawz yelled as he was being flung past several legs.

"Almost there!" Reala grunted as he was approaching the intersection. Tension was rising, vengeance was his!

Or, it would've been if NiGHTS didn't run out the alley and crash into Reala. "OOF! What the-?"

"Reala?"

"NiGHTS?"

Reala quickly glanced at the intersection. The hobos were hitchhiking a car and quickly sped away. Reala could hear the leader shout, "Hooray!" Since NiGHTS was there, Reala had to ignore the hobos for now. He grinned and hugged her. "So, what are you doing here?" he asked.

NiGHTS sighed, "Claris and Elliot wouldn't let me go after you, so I decided to escape."

"Yes! I knew those humans were bad eggs all along!" cackled Jackle, which sort of rhymes.

"No, it's not that they were _bad_," NiGHTS explained. "They just don't think that Reala truly loves me. Probably because they had bad experiences with him."

"Yeah, they can't believe that I'm a good cat now!" cried Clawz.

NiGHTS suddenly took great interest in Clawz's leash. "Wow, what a cool leash!"

"Believe me, it wasn't worth it." Clawz groaned.

"So, now that we are all here," began Jackle. "What do we do now?"

"_You_ can fan me."

Jackle frowned and got out a small Japanese fan that he used to fan Reala.

"We still have to find a way home." Reala reminded the others. "But the portal creator is pretty much busted now."

"This may sound crazy, but we may have to ask someone else for help." NiGHTS advised.

"...You're not serious, are you?" Reala asked.

"Well, we can't figure it out ourselves. So we have to find someone else that knows about portals."

Reala rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and who are we supposed to ask? Aperture Science?"

Jackle laughed. "No, silly! They're in Michigan!"

Reala shot him a glare that meant "Fan harder."

"There must be _someone _around here." said NiGHTS. They walked down the street, past many electronic shops.

"Ok, I'll check the nearest restaurant's phone book and have Clawz look up the nearest physics institute." Reala spoke as he walked on. "Alright, NiGHTS?" No answer. "...NiGHTS?" Reala looked back and saw NiGHTS staring in front of a video game store. "NiGHTS, this is no time to be checking out the latest games. We'll get some _after_ we find a solution to the portal problem."

"But we already have..." NiGHTS breathed.

"Ha ha! NiGHTS is crazy!" Jackle laughed. Reala smacked him, then stepped up to where NiGHTS was and found himself to be staring, too. Clawz then looked up and stared as well. "Ok, what's this thing that everyone has to see?" spoke Jackle as he walked up to the store window display. "Well this looks normal enough, and ZOMYGOSH THAT'S NIGHTS!"

On the cover of one of the display games was the purple jester. It was true: NiGHTS was all along, a video game character.

**OMG, plot twist! Who'd expect **_**that**_**? *shot* And yes, it was very late for a Portal joke, but I only found out about that game recently.**


	9. Stranger Than FanFiction

**DISCLAIMER: No jokes about the Japanese or certain famous people are supposed to be offensive! I apologize in advance if they seem a little too over the edge for you.**

Chapter 9: Stranger Than FanFiction

"It can't be! Someone _created_ me?" NiGHTS gasped in shock. "_Besides_ Wizeman?"

Reala added, "The Nightmaren _Creator_ was _created_..."

"I knew it! It's all a lie." Jackle spoke sadly. "Just like the cake."

"But how?" Clawz asked. "Video games are a product of computer data, which consists of ones and zeroes! We're not ones and zeroes!"

"Not true," Reala pointed out mockingly. "I'm a one, and Jackle's a zero."

"Hey! How come I'm a zero?" Jackle complained indignantly.

Reala moved in on Jackle and growled, "Because you _are._"

Jackle nervously laughed, "Okedokee! I _am_ a zero! Just a lonely zero."

Clawz looked closely at the NiGHTS video game. "This is a 'Product of SEGA'?"

Jackle chimed, "SAY-GAAAH!"

Reala gawked at Jackle and asked, "Where did that come from?"

Jackle looked surprised and whispered worriedly, "I don't know..."

NiGHTS stomped her foot and declared, "Well, we're going to go to this 'SEGA' and help him help us get back to our world! Where is he?"

* * *

"I find it suspicious that we had to find SEGA in the yellow pages instead of the white pages." NiGHTS murmured.

Reala said, "I would make a joke, but it would sound politically incorrect." The group gazed upon the SEGA building in all its white and blue glory.

"This SEGA person could afford a _much_ better looking mansion!" remarked Clawz. The Nightmarens stepped inside the building. Inside the lobby sat a Japanese woman in a uniform in a booth on one side of the room, and an identical looking woman on the other side.

"AAH! You again!" Reala gasped.

"Reala, what's going on?" NiGHTS asked. Reala was speeding away back and forth from one side of the lobby. Soon Reala went back to NiGHTS, gasping for breath.

"It is just one girl, I know it!" Reala breathed. "I'm going to that concert hall. This might take a moment." Then Reala headed out of the building and sped to the concert's ticket booths. On the Japanese ticket booth,

"Konnichewa."

Reala ran to the English booth. "Hello." said the identical looking girl.

"GRAA!" Reala yelled as he ran away back inside the SEGA building. On both booths a Japanese woman sat, looking exactly the same as the other. He asked NiGHTS, "Did they move while I was gone?"

"I don't know. I wasn't watching them." NiGHTS responded. Reala groaned.

"Would you like to take a tour of our building?" asked the woman on the English booth.

"Yes, we would like to speak to SEGA!" NiGHTS demanded.

"We _are_ SEGA." the woman responded. The others had confused looks on their faces.

"..._We_ are SEGA?" NiGHTS asked.

"Yes. SEGA is a company of many people that focus on the development of several video game franchises." explained the woman. "Within SEGA is the Sonic Team, which is responsible for your favourite games such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Samba de Amigo, and NiGHTS."

"Yeah, we wanna talk to them! The ones who created me- I mean NiGHTS!" NiGHTS spoke up.

The Japanese tour guide then said, "Then follow me and I can guide you to them." She started walking in one direction and motioned the others to follow.

As the group followed, Jackle whispered excitedly, "Sweet!"

As the tour guide lead them through the facility, she explained stuff about the history of SEGA and Sonic Team. As the Nightmarens followed, they got more and more nervous about meeting the one that created them. Finally, Reala spoke up, "Could you just take us to Takashi Iizuka?"

The tour guide turned her head at them and hesitantly replied, "Uh, I think Iizuka is a bit too tied up in his work to see anyone, especially tourists."

"But we're not tourists! We're-" NiGHTS began before she was shushed by Reala.

"Sorry, but I think we should reveal ourselves _properly_." stated Reala. "We're undercover game idea pitchers."

"We are? COOL!" exclaimed Jackle.

Reala moved in on Jackle and hissed, "Yes, we are. Quiet ones, at that."

Jackle nodded and did that gesture where he pretends to zip his mouth.

"Oh, of course." said the tour guide. "Just follow me, quickly." She took the group past several hallways, through many combination locked doors, and finally up to one regular door. The tour guide cracked the door ajar, peeked in and spoke, "Mr. Iizuka, there are some idea pitchers for you."

Iizuka's voice was heard, "I never arranged any pitch meetings." NiGHTS and the others got very worried. "But we have been going a bit downhill since 2006, so I'll see what they have to say."

The tour guide looked at NiGHTS and whispered, "Go right in."

NiGHTS and her friends stepped inside to see Takashi sitting behind a desk, handling piles of documents. Takashi looked up and frowned with disgust. "Oh, you're just a fan group that tricked my tour guide into letting in all of you."

"Actually, no. We're undercover game idea pitchers." Jackle began. "Now, what I was thinking of for the next Sonic game is that we develop a good plot, but not so that it takes up more prominence than the actual gameplay. As for the gameplay, Sonic should be able to-"

"Ok, you can drop the act now." Reala interrupted.

Jackle frowned and whimpered, "You mean we're _not_ game idea pitchers? Aww, and I was so good!"

Iizuka narrowed his eyes and groaned, "Alright, what are you trying to pull?"

NiGHTS suddenly ran toward Iizuka and shouted, "PAPAAAA!" She leapt at him and gave him a big hug.

"Get off me!" Iizuka shouted in surprise and anger. He tried prying her off. "Are you insane?"

"No, the insane one's Jackle, remember?" NiGHTS clarified, still clinging on. "I'm NiGHTS! And that's Reala and Clawz! I'd show you Claris, Elliot, and Owl, but they're mad at us at the moment."

Reala then said to NiGHTS, "I think you'd better let go of him before he calls security."

NiGHTS quickly removed herself from Takashi and let him speak. "Look, I praise you for being such a big fan of my NiGHTS franchise, but I believe you have taken this fan thing too far. Thanks for visiting, but now I really must be getting back to work." He said as he hurriedly guided them to the door.

"But wait!" NiGHTS fought back. "Just a minute! We're not fans, we really _are_ the characters! Like, literally!"

"For real!" Jackle added.

Reala closed the door before they could be pushed out. "Look, Iizuka, we're not playing around here." He took a deep breath and spoke seriously, "We used to be Nightmarens, the ones you created in your video games. But lately, Wizeman's been trying to kill us by sending us into the real world- this world. We've lost all our Nightmaren powers, so we're stranded here. Since you created us, we think you're the only one who can help us get back home." He stared into Iizuka's wide, disbelieving eyes. "Please, you _must_ help us."

Takashi didn't say a word for five whole seconds. Then, "Hahahaha! OK, you're not only super fans, you're bad fanfiction writers!"

Everyone gasped in shock and hoped that ERiN didn't hear it.

"Look, we can _prove_ that we're the real characters!" NiGHTS pleaded. She glanced at Clawz and grabbed him, who yowled in surprise. "Clawz can speak! Right Clawz?"

Clawz said nothing, only looking at NiGHTS.

"Clawz!"

"Ahah, just kidding!" Clawz laughed.

Iizuka widened his eyes and gasped, "He does talk!"

"It's getting him to shut up that's the trick!" Jackle remarked.

Reala corrected, "No Jackle, that's you."

Iizuka asked, "Is this some kind of elaborate hoax? Because I'm not buying it!"

NiGHTS protested, "If _I_ can accept the fact that I am a video game character, then _you_ can accept the fact that I'm real!"

"No, because I _know_ you are not real! You're super-annoying super fans!" shouted Takashi. Now everyone was silent for ten whole seconds this time. Then, "Anything else you want to say to me?"

Jackle suddenly grinned and exclaimed, "_Now_ I understand what Reala wanted to joke about!"

Reala turned his head toward Jackle and shouted, "Jackle! NOOO!"

Jackle continued, "We found your company in the _yellow_ pages, and you're Japanese! You're *censored*!"

Takashi furrowed his eyebrows.

* * *

The front doors slammed shut. After rubbing their bruised parts, the Nightmarens got up off the ground and glared at Jackle. He asked, "Why did Takashi get angry at us for Reala's joke?"

For a split second, Reala's face was scrunched up in fury and his lower lip flared and raised up. Then Reala shouted, "It wasn't _my_ joke! _You_ stole it!"

"Oh." Jackle said. "Then why would Takashi care about whose joke it was?"

For a split second, Reala's head was boiling hot, his pupils were narrower than an eggshell crack, and his hands were nearly bleeding from the points of his finger nails digging into them in a fist. "_You_ made a racially insensitive joke that _I_ was _smart_ to keep silent about! Now _you_ are stuck with _us_ because _you_ p***ed off the only guy that could get _you_ and _us_ home!"

"...We?"

"Yes! I mean, NO!" Reala groaned. "Graah! You are so stupid, Jackle! This was your own damn fault!"

"GASP!" went the other Nightmarens.

Reala looked at them and asked, "Why didn't you gasp when I said 'pissed'?"

NiGHTS gasped again and explained, "At that time, the P-word was censored!"

Clawz yowled, "Now this fanfic has to go up to a M-rating! Or worse!"

"There's nothing worse than M." NiGHTS pointed out.

Clawz yowled in despair.

Reala groaned, "Calm down, Clawz. Nobody raises a fanfic rating for two little words."

"Are you still mad at me?" Jackle asked.

Reala turned around with a fake smile. "No... I'm not mad... I'M ****ING ****ED OFF MY **** YOU ***HOLE!"

Clawz sighed, "The fanfic is now M-rated."

Reala was still taking his anger out on Jackle. "You ruined our chance to go home! Now I'm gonna beat the balockers out of you! And don't make me try to define 'balockers'! It's gibberish!" He grabbed him by the collar of his cape, leaned in close, and hissed sinisterly, "And if you know what's good for you, you'll never speak again! Or else, you know what'll happen..."

Jackle's eyes widened and he knew what Reala was talking about. He gulped. "Yes, Reala." he whispered shakily. "I'll never talk again."

Reala let go of Jackle and stood up straight. "Good. Because nothing's worse to clean than a pile of ashes."

Jackle seemed to picture that, and he shuddered.

NiGHTS sighed, "Well, if we can't go home, then we'll have to..."

The others looked at NiGHTS intently.

"...stay here. Forever."

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?"

"You can't be serious!" Clawz gasped.

"Us? Stuck with _him?_" Reala hissed, pointing at Jackle.

NiGHTS hesitantly shrugged and explained, "If we can't go home, then what else could we do? It's not like there's another way for desperate help."

"I'd disagree." said a new, familiar voice. Everyone turned around to see Wizeman in his human form.

NiGHTS crossed her arms and sighed, "Let me guess, Wizeman, you can bring us back to our world but for a price that involves some kind of a sacrifice. We give it to you, and you send us into a trap, blah blah blah, we defeat you, and it's all for nothing."

"...Uh, I'm not Wizeman. I'm a wise man!"

"Cut the crap. We know it's you." said Reala flatly.

"Alright, alright, so it _is_ me." Wizeman groaned. "But don't get so angry at me! This was _your_ fault that got us here."

Reala looked suspicious and asked, "Wait, are you saying _you're_ trapped here too?"

"Exactly. No thanks to these delinquents over here." Wizeman jerked his head towards his band of Nightmarens behind him. Because the Nightmarens couldn't speak, they couldn't disagree. Wizeman continued to fake moan, "Oh, now I am stuck here in this dimension, and now I feel your pain when this happened to you. But there is a way for all of us to get back, yet it'll only work if we all team up." With fake pleading eyes, Wizeman looked at NiGHTS' group, held out his hand, and asked, "Shall we?"

"No way!" NiGHTS shouted. She and her friends dashed off.

For a split-second, Wizeman's face was dark red, his teeth were nearly crumbling against each other, his fingers almost molded together, and his eyes were burning from being narrowed so much. Then he yelled, "GET THOSE MARENS!"

**If you were offended, I'll give you some consolation cake. After you review, of course.**


	10. The Cosplay's the Thing

**Here's some advice for those writing two or more fanfics at a time: DON'T WRITE TWO OR MORE FANFICS AT A TIME! Not only is it confusing to think in multiple universes and plots, but if the genres are different, you can end up mixing the writing styles.**

Chapter 10: The Cosplay's the Thing

"Come on, guys! We mustn't let Wizeman get us!" NiGHTS told the others. They hurried down the street, anywhere that was where Wizeman wasn't.

Clawz glanced to the right and exclaimed, "Quick! In the alley!" The group dashed into the alley, despite the fact that there are too many alleys in this fanfic.

Reala bent down and panted, "Thank goodness we lost him." He felt a tap on his shoulder. "Not now, Jackle." Reala felt more tapping. "Jackle, if you need anything, just tell me!" More tapping. Reala turned around and shouted, "Ok, what's the-" He saw some of the Nightmarens in their human forms, grinning.

Chamelan held up a sign that read, "But you forgot about us!"

Reala raised his eyebrow. "Um, what's with the sign?"

Donbalon furiously scribbled onto his sign, "Wizeman took our voices to make us not seem stupid."

"Aw, that's a shame!" NiGHTS spoke sympathetically.

"Yeah. It's not convincing when I have to sing through my signs." Puffy's sign said.

"Enough writing. Our targets are ripe for picking!" Bomamba's sign read.

At that, NiGHTS and the others headed out of the alley. Donbalon glared at Bomamba and wrote on his sign, "Nice going. (Massive sarcasm quotes). Because you showed them that we were going to take them, they left!"

Chamelan shook his head and held up his sign, "We're spending too much time arguing through writing. We must catch NiGHTS! Now go!" Chamelan headed out of the alley, along with Donbalon and Bomamba.

Puffy then looked at Bella and asked in another sign, "Why didn't you write anything? We almost forgot you were here."

Bella wrote down, "I couldn't let Jackle see me! Ever since Paris, he's been crazy about my human form. Sigh. It sucks to be beautiful."

Bomamba appeared outside the alley and scoldingly held out a sign, "Aren't you guys coming? I had to write this and run all the way back here just to tell you this!" After some heavy panting, she hurried back to the others.

* * *

As they were running again, Reala told NiGHTS, "Let's never hide in an alley ever again! Something bad always happens!"

Clawz spat, "Well excuuuuuuuse me, Reala, but how should _I_ have known that the Nightmarens were in there?"

NiGHTS then gasped in shock and delight. "Look! A Nightopian!" She pointed across the street.

The "Nightopian" was a lot larger than usual and walked inside a building with a sign outside that read "Cosplay Inside".

"It must've gotten stuck in this world too!" Jackle blurted out. Then he remembered he was supposed to be silent, so he bent his head down and shuffled his feet sadly.

Clawz suggested, "Let's go after it! Maybe it knows a way out of this world!"

Reala looked doubtful. "Really? A Nightopian would be that smart to figure that out before us?"

"Well do you have a better idea, Mr. Know-it-all?" Clawz asked mockingly.

"Great! Now you got that song instantly in my head." Reala glanced behind to see the Nightmarens gaining on them. "Fine. We'll follow the mutated Nightopian." He grumbled.

So they did. Inside, they didn't find the "Nightopian". Instead, they found…well, just about everyone else from the video game world.

Clawz gasped, wide-eyed. "Guys…I know what this place is…"

The others waited for him to finish.

"This is a refuge for all the lost video game characters!"

NiGHTS asked, "Why didn't we know about this when we first got here?"

"Maybe it's a secret place." Reala guessed. He looked around. "Hey, look! There's Mario! Isn't he a bit thinner than I remember?"

Clawz suggested, "Let's ask him for help. Maybe he knows something about how to get back to our own world."

They all ran up to "Mario" and NiGHTS greeted, "Hi, Mario! Did you and the princess get lost here?"

The red-and-blue "plumber" looked at her quizzically and replied in a deep voice, "Um…no. And I came here by myself."

"Oh, good thinking hiding your accent to protect your identity!" NiGHTS commended.

"Mario" continued to stare for a second, then he started edging away.

Reala stopped him. "Wait! You have to tell us how to get back to our own universe!"

However, that just made the man walk faster.

"Hey!" the group called out. They were about to go after him when someone else bumped into them. NiGHTS recognized him and said in delight, "You're Sonic the Hedgehog!"

"That's me!" the tall, big-headed "hedgehog" said with a big grin and thumbs-up.

Clawz jumped onto Reala's shoulder and whispered to him, "Hey, Reala, how come his lips don't move when he talks?"

Reala leaned his head towards the cat and muttered, "Maybe he's been watching too many of his cartoons."

**Badum tish! **Jackle handed the Rock Band drum set he used to make the sound back to a Rock Star.

NiGHTS asked, "Sonic, do you know how we can get back to our home, Nightopia?"

"Sonic" sighed in a different voice, "Look, I don't know about the NiGHTS series, so just pretend that we're still talking about me."

"But you MUST help us!" NiGHTS insisted, grabbing the blue "hedgehog's" shoulders.

"Sonic" nervously backed away. "Uh, maybe you're better off talking to another NiGHTS cosplayer. I'm sure one of them will help with your… uh, problem."

"Ok, thanks Sonic!" NiGHTS added, "Oh by the way, you're the second character we've talked to that disguised their voice. Cool!" She and her friends ran off. Only to run into…

"Ganondorf!" they gasped in horror.

Clawz instructed, "Quick! Someone get Link and Zelda! The Triforce must be preserved!"

"No time for that!" Reala told him, getting into a fighting stance. "Let's just beat him up!"

"Huh?" Before "Ganondorf" knew it, the Nightmaren group leapt at him and started to attack. "Ow! Hey! What's the big- OOH!" he spat while trying to defend himself.

"I'll bet you were about to ambush Link and Zelda so that they would never return to Hyrule!" NiGHTS accused as she punched him in the stomach.

"NOO! Not in my gut! It burrrrrns! Ow, seriously, stop!" He curled up on the floor and yelled, "I'm just an old guy!"

Reala smirked. "I bet you are." He threw one final punch in the face, knocking "Ganon" out.

"Father!" a young woman dressed as Zelda cried and ran over to the old man lying on the ground.

The group gasped in shock and Reala exclaimed, "Ganondorf is Zelda's _father?_ That's an even bigger twist than Sheik being Zelda all along!"

"Sheik was _Zelda?_" Jackle exclaimed in disbelief. He quickly put his hands over his mouth.

Just then, "Link" hurried up to the scene and cried out, "Nicole! Are you ok?"

NiGHTS piped up, "Oh! That's another good idea! Code names!" She quickly whispered to the green "elf", "Hey, did you know that Ganondorf is really Zelda's father?"

"Link and Zelda" glared at the Nightmarens and "Link" seethed, "Come on, sis, let's take these guys down."

But the group gasped in astonishment again. "Link and Zelda are _siblings?_"

Reala shuddered and commented, "This is weirder than that Luke and Leia romance."

NiGHTS quickly pointed out, "What's weirder is that there are some people who think you and I are siblings."

Reala looked away in disgust and groaned, "Ew! Don't ever talk about that again!"

Clawz hid behind NiGHTS and mewed, "Guys, the awkward family is getting closer…" He gulped when he saw "Link" draw his sword and "Zelda" take out some ninja weapons.

"AAAH!" NiGHTS and her friends dashed away, pursued by the angry "Hyrulians". Because the building they were in was so large, they eventually lost them. …Yes, I'm going to use that excuse. When they had finally caught their breath, Clawz proposed, "I say we look for someone else. Someone who won't try to kill us."

NiGHTS gazed about and said, "Hey! There's Samus! Wait, she's probably busy on a mission. Oooh! Pikachu! Nah, we don't understand Pokemon-speak. Squeeeeeee! There's Reala!"

Reala looked confused. "NiGHTS, _I'm _Reala. I don't think that's Reala…"

"Reala" noticed NiGHTS and her friends and walked over to them. He grinned and complimented the purple jester, "Awesome work on your costume! You look just like NiGHTS! Well, except for the stomach fat."

"FAT?" NiGHTS almost shrieked as she examined her paunch.

Clawz took a stance at the other Reala and growled, "All right, impostor! Are you working for Wizeman?"

The other Reala exclaimed, "Wow! You even got a talking Clawz doll!"

"Doll?" Clawz spat in disgust.

Reala stepped in front of him and sneered, "Listen, punk, I don't know what kind of game you're playing here, but I'll let the refugees here know that I'M the real Reala!"

The other Reala looked unimpressed. "Wow, what an uneducated fan."

"What?"

"Reala's face is not that grossly exaggerated."

"Ex_cuse_ me?"

"And you've even made a cheap replica of his Persona."

Reala glowered fiercely at him. "I'll show _you_ who's cheap and uneducated."

The other Reala grinned slyly. "All right! Some competition! How shall we duke it out?"

"By letting me make the first move." Right after Reala said that, he punched the "impostor" in the nose, knocking him over. The crowd around them gasped, then applauded.

Jackle hastily poked NiGHTS' shoulder and pointed towards the door.

NiGHTS saw with horror that the Nightmarens had entered the building. "Enough heroics, Reala, we've got to get out of here!"

"Why?" Reala then noticed the baddies and agreed to flee. He and the others hurried through the crowds.

Clawz whined, "How are we going to find a way out with all these characters everywhere?"

Reala turned to someone in a poorly made costume and started, "Excuse me, hobo-who's-dressed-for-the-winter—"

"I'm a Half-Life 2 rebel." he cut off sourly.

"Whatever. Is there a back exit?"

"Yeah. It's in the back." he replied, jerking his thumb in one direction.

"Thanks." NiGHTS and her friends made it out before the evil Nightmarens could see them.

Donbalon wrote on his sign, "NiGHTS and the others could be anywhere!"

Chamelan quickly wrote on his, "There's Reala over there!" He pointed to the other Reala, still lying on the floor.

"Looks like someone got to him first." Bomamba wrote. They crowded around "Reala" and carried him away.

"One more for the boss!" Gillwing tried to write, but since he didn't have human fingers (remember, he's still a Komodo dragon) it didn't come out legible, making his attempt totally pointless.

Meanwhile, NiGHTS and the others were catching a breather. "So what do we do now?" NiGHTS asked. "If our creator doesn't believe us, and if that refuge wasn't safe, who will help us?"

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!"

"AAH!" NiGHTS and her friends jumped around in surprise, but then they relaxed when they saw who it was.

"Oh, it's just Owl." NiGHTS groaned.

Owl swooped closer. "Yes! We finally caught up!" Claris and Elliot dragged themselves beside Owl, clearly tired and out of breath.

Elliot glared at Owl. "Yes. We did."

Claris then turned to the matter at hand and declared, "Now let NiGHTS go, Reala!"

"I told you, I'M NOT EVIL ANYMORE!" Reala yelled in frustration. "Just because we're stuck in the real world and I happen to be a Nightmaren doesn't mean I'm behind this!"

"Tell that to the authorities!" Owl spat.

Elliot took out his cell phone and dialed the emergency number. Whatever that is in Japan.

Clawz' fur fluffed up and down in anxiety. "Guys, can we do this later? Nightmarens are still after us..."

Owl muttered, "Probably tracking you down with Reala..."

"Stop accusing me!"

Elliot spoke into the cell phone, "We've got a hostile here, he's pretty mean and creepy."

NiGHTS spoke up, "Ok, food for thought, how are you going to explain to them that this suspect is a Nightmaren from another dimension and has other Nightmarens assisting him?"

"They don't care, they'll arrest anyone!" Owl pointed out proudly.

Clawz's ears swiveled and he mewed, "I can hear sirens!"

"All right, enough of this!" Reala grabbed NiGHTS' hand and Jackle's cape and dashed away with Clawz in the lead.

"Oh no you don't!" Owl growled as he pursued them with Claris.

Elliot followed them and said into his phone, "The suspect is getting away with a hostage and a pile of laundry!"

As they raced along, Reala felt NiGHTS' grip loosening. She was slowing down. He glanced over his shoulder. "NiGHTS, are you ok?"

NiGHTS looked up and feigned a smile. "Sure. I'm fine."

To his concern, Reala could tell she was struggling to keep up, even though she was normally a swift runner. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her breathing was shallow. But that might have been from all the stress that was going on. He squeezed her hand reassuringly. He didn't notice that Clawz and Jackle had stopped running, and almost bumped into them.

"Uh-oh."

Reala's eyes widened at Clawz' voice. "What 'uh-oh'?" Then he saw. All that was in front of them was a small, abandoned warehouse beside some rotting docks on the edge of the sea. He let go of NiGHTS' hand and frantically searched around them. "No…No! There's gotta be another way to go! We didn't come all this way for a dead end! Clawz, do something!"

"What do you expect me to do?" Clawz asked indignantly.

"I don't know! Smell another path? Anything!"

"I'm not a dog, you know! And you don't have to yell-"

"Reala?"

The red jester turned around instantly at the alarm in his mate's voice. "What is it, NiGHTS?"

Her eyes were wide and fearful. "I'm not fine." NiGHTS' knees then buckled and she collapsed onto the ground.

Reala gasped. "NiGHTS!" He rushed over to her and kneeled beside her body. He lifted her head up with one hand and her back with the other. "Wake up, NiGHTS! NIGHTS!"

"She fainted!" Clawz gasped in worry.

Her eyes were closed and she didn't respond. Reala looked at Clawz and Jackle in distress. "What happened? Did you guys see anything?"

But his friends both looked baffled. "Lots of things could've made her faint." Clawz told him anxiously. "Fatigue, hunger, food poisoning, heat stroke, human-Nightmaren body conflicts—"

"Conflicts?" Reala echoed. "Like what?"

Clawz was about to explain, but his ears pricked up and he hissed, "I hear Wizeman and the others! We gotta hide!"

Reala saw only one option. "Quick! Inside that warehouse!" He picked up NiGHTS with some difficulty and ran towards it.

Clawz frowned. "But it's so rank and damp. And it's falling apart."

Reala glanced down at him and asked, "Would you rather be caught by Wizeman?"

"Good point." Clawz followed with Jackle.

**What will happen to the other Reala? Find out next chapter! **


	11. Warehouse Inferno

**Ok, I guess your mileage may vary with cosplay. But I'd do it.**

Chapter 11: Warehouse Inferno

Reala—that is, the other Reala—woke up when a bright light turned on above his face. "Grandma? Is that you?" he asked groggily. He tried to move, but he was tied to a chair in a dark alley. It was a few seconds before he got a response. Which, in this case, was a sign in front of him: "Yeah, it's your granny. (Sarcasm)" Then the sign whacked him across the face. "OW! What's going on?!" he cried out.

Another sign was pushed in front of his face: "Where are they?!"

Cosplay Reala raised a confused eyebrow. "Who?"

The sign whacked him again.

"HEY! I don't know what your beef is, but could you tell me what's happening here?" As his eyes adjusted, he could see the dimly lit figures of the Nightmarens. "Whoa, you guys must be super fans!" he remarked.

More whacking. Then the sign said, "WHERE ARE THEY?!"

"Look, it's clear we both like the NiGHTS series, but could you step out of character for a moment?"

Then another shadowy figure loomed into view. But this one actually spoke. "How is the interrogation going?" he asked his associates in a deep voice.

One of them wrote on his sign, "Reala isn't confessing!"

Another added, "And we've already tried whacking!"

The deep-voiced man stepped towards the Reala cosplayer. "I'm sure he'll talk once I've—" He stopped when he saw him. "WHAT?! T-This is not Reala! YOU IDIOTS HAVE—" He stopped again to clear his throat and calm down. "You have failed me again."

"Wow, you're actually pretty good at this!" commended the cosplayer.

"It is recommended that you keep as quiet as my associates." The man told him. "Now, where is the _real_ Reala?"

Cosplay Reala sighed. "If you're talking about that other Reala who knocked me out back at the convention, I have no idea."

The man leaned closer with interest. "Where did this happen?"

"You know, the International Cosplay Convention Center? You should totally go there, you'd get kudos for such an accurate portrayal of human!Wizeman."

Wizeman, suddenly realizing that his cover was blown, straightened up and adjusted his jacket nervously. He told his Nightmarens, "Give me one of your signs."

Chamelan shrugged to his friends and handed one to his master.

Wizeman tapped his fingers against the handle, then in one swift whack, the Reala cosplayer was knocked out.

* * *

"What was that?"

Reala looked up sharply. "What was what?"

Clawz stretched his neck out one of the broken windows to gaze about. It had started to get dark and foggy, with only one streetlamp still glowing beside the old warehouse. The cat Nightmaren's ears flicked from side to side. "Hmm. Dunno. Maybe it came from the water."

Reala turned his attention back to NiGHTS. He gently stroked her face as she laid unconscious on his lap. "NiGHTS…my love…please wake up." He murmured. The red jester wrapped his arms around his wife and held her close. Close enough to feel her warm breath on his face.

Jackle was in the middle of writing his last will and testament when he heard a loud creak. "Eek!" he whimpered quietly as he dropped his pencil.

Clawz leapt down softly from the windowsill and perked his ears in the direction of the door. He sniffed. "I smell trouble. Better hide." He whispered before silently slinking up the rusted stairs to the second floor.

Reala picked up NiGHTS and went after him. He did his best not to make the stairs creak, but was pretty unsuccessful. Jackle, however, easily tip-toed up to the top. It was once he got to the top when he tripped over his fire hose and made a loud thud.

Reala winced and held his breath. Luckily, nothing happened. He let out a sigh and flashed a glare at Jackle, who retreated behind a crate with Clawz. Reala joined them and placed NiGHTS down in the corner. To his relief, she stirred.

"Ugh, what happened?" NiGHTS asked, rubbing her eyes.

Reala held her hands. "You passed out. Is everything ok?"

She took a deep breath. "I feel better now, but I don't know why I fainted in the first place."

"Don't worry, I'll be here to take care of you." Reala reassured. He turned to Clawz and said, "Go back downstairs and scout."

But Clawz protested, "Aw, me? I've done practically everything else so far!"

Reala rolled his eyes. "Come on, you're the only one who's good at sneaking around."

The cat whined, "Why not Jackle?"

Staring seriously in his eyes, Reala stated, "Because I'm asking you. NiGHTS' life may be in danger and we can't risk getting caught by Wizeman. And because you helped us so many times before, I trust you."

The Nightmaren cat stared in surprise and was silent for a moment. "Gee, Reala, I didn't know you cared. It's not really in your character."

"Also, if you don't go right now, I'm putting you back on the leash."

Clawz smiled. "That's more like it!" With that, he trotted back down the stairs. When he reached the bottom, Clawz sniffed for any Nightmarens. "Rotting wood…mould…mildew…teen spirit…haha, just kidding." He silently stalked around walls and crates. He then smelled something especially rank and decided to take a look. When he turned around the corner of a crate, he came face to face with Cerberus.

The angry Nightmaren dog was crouched in front of him, growling ferociously.

Clawz froze, wide-eyed, and very much afraid. He glanced from side to side and asked with a nervous smile, "Did you like the 'teen spirit' joke?"

Cerberus howled loudly and leapt at Clawz.

"REEEEOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW!" Clawz yowled as he fled. "Ok, I get it! It's overused!" Fur standing on end, he sped around the warehouse, trying to shake off Cerberus.

Unfortunately, the other Nightmarens heard Cerberus' signal and barged inside. Gulpo tried to write on his sign with his teeth, but the ink didn't work underwater and the paper was coming apart anyway. So he just splashed to get everyone's attention. He pointed with his fin to one end of the warehouse, where Clawz was hiding from Cerberus.

Chamelan gave Gulpo a thumbs-up, then wrote, "Let's sneak up and corner him!"

The Nightmarens got themselves together and slowly stepped toward Cerberus and Clawz. At least, the cat _looked_ like Clawz…

Donbalon wrote, "Ok, Clawz, the gig is up!"

Bomamba elbowed him and wrote, "Jig, not gig!"

Donbalon corrected his sign and sneered through writing, "It's not my fault that you're vocabulary is better than mine!"

Bomamba rolled her eyes and didn't bother correcting him a second time. She and the others got in a circle around Clawz, and jumped up to reveal themselves.

The cat jumped in surprise and gazed around at all of them. "…Meow."

The Nightmarens looked confused. "Is it really Clawz?" Puffy wrote.

The kitty looked up at them with big eyes and purred. It walked up to them and sniffed their legs. Then it rolled on the ground playfully.

Chamelan stared in disappointment. "It's not Clawz." He wrote.

The cat then started giving itself a bath, which all the Nightmarens thought was adorable.

But Chamelan reminded them, "Come on, we have to find the real Clawz and the others." They left the cat by himself.

The cat glanced around, then let out a sigh of relief. "Phew! Thought they'd never leave." Then he noticed the Nightmarens going upstairs. He gasped. "Oh no, I forgot about the STAIRS!" So he charged after them. He leaped and dug his claws into Chamelan's back.

Chamelan's mouth stretched open in an inaudible scream as he quickly scribbled, "OOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW!"

The others tried getting Clawz off, but it was useless as they were busy writing directions to each other and Chamelan was flailing wildly.

Finally, Girania spat out his sign from the mobile fish tank and it hit Clawz on the back of his head.

"REOW!" Clawz slumped off Chamelan and on to the floor in a daze. He looked up blearily at the Nightmarens crowding around him evilly and thought, _This is the end…_

Then a voice boomed from behind them, "Have you found the traitors?"

Bomamba wrote, "Just Clawz."

Clawz gasped as Wizeman pushed his way through to leer down at him. "…Meow?" he tried weakly.

Wizeman snarled, "Where are the others? Now!"

Clawz trembled, then put his paws up. "Ok, you got us! I give up! They're hiding in a Japanese game-show building!"

Wizeman raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? Then what are you doing here?"

"They sent me as a diversion."

"I see." Wizeman took a slow glance around the room. "Then we might as well leave."

Clawz let out a mental sigh of relief.

Wizeman turned to his Nightmarens. "Burn this place down."

Clawz gasped. "Wait! W-what do you have to do that for? I told you they're not here!"

"Then no one will be killed here, right?" Wizeman sneered. As he left, he added, "Except you, of course."

Clawz realized with alarm that Queen Bella lit a flare and kicked over a can of gasoline, which spilled onto the floor while the other Nightmarens swiftly exited the building. He stared at her in horror, too scared to move.

Bella grinned wickedly and did a ninja-jump out the window, dropping the flare.

KABOOOM!

Reala jumped when he heard an explosion coming from the first floor. "Clawz! What did you do?!" He didn't hear a response, so he went to the edge of the stairs and nearly reeled when he saw that the whole floor was covered in fire. He only saw a second of it before Clawz leaped into his vision and onto his head. "Aah!" Reala swatted at the cat. "Get off!"

"Meep! Sorry!" Clawz jumped off and landed shakily on the floor.

"What happened?" NiGHTS demanded.

"They had me cornered! And Wizeman came! I'm sorry, it was all my fault!" wailed Clawz as he put his paws over his face.

Reala growled, "You can cry later, right now we have to get out of here!" He ran back to pick up NiGHTS.

"Relax, I can walk." NiGHTS told him as she stood up.

Jackle was in a corner reading the Holy Bible when Reala called to him, "Hurry up, Jackle!" They ran to the stairs, only to find that they were engulfed in flames.

At the sight of the fire, Jackle began to panic mutely. His eyes were so big, they could've easily taken up his whole face. He dared not scream, as he feared he would only burst into flames himself. However, he did run around in circles with his arms flailing all over the place, mouthing words of terror. It was almost as if his worst nightmare was coming true.

Clawz hissed as embers shot out at him. "It's no use! Those stairs won't hold up! We'll have to find another way!"

Reala backed up and took a swift glance around. Something on Jackle's back glinted and caught his eye. His face lit up with relief. "Of course!" He grabbed Jackle's shoulders to keep him still. Ignoring Jackle's silent protest, he removed the fire extinguisher. "Don't worry, guys!" Reala told his friends heroically. "I'll save us!" With that, he threw the fire extinguisher at the nearest wall as hard as he could, smashing a large hole in it. "Come on, let's jump!"

But NiGHTS, Clawz and Jackle were glowering at him.

Reala noticed their expressions. "…What?"

Clawz twitched his ear in mild anger. "Seriously? Did you seriously—did he seriously just do that?" he asked NiGHTS and Jackle.

NiGHTS sighed with a hand over her face and Jackle replied with a vigorous nod, still glaring at Reala.

Reala looked at them, dumbfounded. "What did I—"

"YOU'RE A MORON!" Clawz finally raged. He started coughing, and they realized the fire was getting closer.

"No time for name-calling, just jump!" Reala grabbed NiGHTS' hand and went to the edge of the hole and peered down. Water. Something to break their fall. But he was afraid for NiGHTS in her condition. He figured he would have to swim and carry her at the same time. He gazed fondly at his mate and she responded with a warm smile and thumbs-up. They held each other as tight as they could before they closed their eyes and jumped.

The water was chilly, despite the fact that it was summer. Reala plunged deeper than he would have liked, and he fought his way to the surface with his free arm. He made sure NiGHTS' head also cleared the surface and was surprised when she started thrashing and gasping for air. "NiGHTS!" Reala said in concern. "Are you ok?"

But NiGHTS was shuddering violently, her eyes shut tight. She made a low moaning sound, and Reala realized she was saying his name. "Ree…Reala…"

"Don't worry, NiGHTS, we'll make it." Reala continued to push his way towards the docks. He heard splashing behind him and was relieved to see Jackle dog-paddling after him, with Clawz gripping his head.

The old warehouse was now ablaze, cracking and popping as large sparks of fire shot out of it. With one loud creak, it finally collapsed into the sea.

Reala heaved NiGHTS on top of the dock, then proceeded to drag himself onto it. For a moment he laid on his back, shivering and catching his breath. He felt immensely tired and heavy, and he could barely keep his eyes open.

Jackle climbed onto the dock beside Reala and flopped down on his stomach. Clawz released his hold on Jackle and hunched on the cold boards, shivering like crazy. He shook the water from his fur, making it stick out all poofy-like. "How humiliating." he mumbled.

Shadows fell across them, and in the hazy light Reala could barely make out the figures. "Wizeman!" he gasped.

"Did you really think I would fall for that game-show lie?" Wizeman asked calmly. "Foolish rebels. And now you are going to die, after you've struggled to stay alive for so long." He chuckled darkly. "Finally, I shall get my revenge on you troublesome pests. Starting with NiGHTS."

"Aaah! Put me down! NOW!" the purple jester cried out.

"No!" Reala reached out to his mate, but Donbalon already picked NiGHTS up roughly. "Leave her alone! She's hurt!"

"She deserves it!" Wizeman snapped. "All of you do!" He turned to his Nightmarens. "We must waste no time in eliminating them. Take them to…the Tower."

Puffy wrote in dismay, "Oh no, not Eiffel again."

"Not that tower!" Wizeman spat in frustration. "I've told you before, the second-tallest building in the city!"

"You mean Japan." Bomamba pointed out signagely.

"WHATEVER!" Wizeman boomed. He quickly whispered to himself, "Serious groove, serious groove." With a deep breath, he continued, "Now that all the rebels are in my capture, we shall take them to Tokyo Tower to carry out my plan."

Reala sighed boredly. "Let me guess, you're gonna drop us off from the top. Real original."

Wizeman chuckled wickedly. "Muhahahaha…yes. But the only difference is that no one else can save you now."

Clawz growled determinedly, "That's what you think! Claris, Elliot, and Owl are still looking for us!"

"CLAWZ!" Reala and NiGHTS scolded in exasperation.

"Really?" Wizeman spoke with interest. He stepped toward Jackle and menacingly told him, "I know that you can't shut up. You'll reveal the Dreamers' location eventually. So where are they?"

Jackle then started mouthing words and charading a bit. Wizeman was perplexed. Normally Jackle would've began yelling crazy things and not keep his mouth shut. "…Has my spell affected Jackle too?"

Everyone else shrugged. Reala didn't want to reveal his plan to trick Jackle about Spontaneous Combustion, so he tapped his foot and asked, "So, Tokyo Tower then?"

Wizeman cleared his throat and added, "Yes, of course. To the Tower!"

**No, this will not be a repeat of the Paris climax. It will be much darker…**


	12. Reprise of the Tower

**Sorry this chapter was late. I was on vacation. In TEXAS! :D**

Chapter 12: Reprise of the Tower

"You lied, Wizeman! It IS the Eiffel tower!" scolded Puffy with her sign when they had arrived at their destination.

"SILENCE!" Wizeman yelled. He looked at the confused Nightmarens. "Ahem! You know what I mean." Wizeman scanned the area and boasted, "This time, there are no ramps for Reala, or anyone else, to use to get to the top!"

Clawz grumbled, "Then how do _we_ get to the top?"

Wizeman wickedly grinned as he held up fake handicap signs.

* * *

The policeman looked at the trio with disbelief. "So, you're telling me that a group of…Nightmarens, is it? That they came to this world and are taken by this… Wizeman the Wicked?"

"Yeah!" Claris answered.

Owl spoke up, "Don't forget about that liar Reala!"

"Uh, yes. This Reala… he tricked his wife named… Nights?"

"It's NiGHTS." Elliot clarified.

The officer grunted and dismissed that detail. "Whatever. She is supposed to be in her own world Nightopia so that everyone will be protected from Nightmarens."

Owl nodded and replied, "Yes, it's imperative that she gets back!"

The policeman stared at the trio again until another officer came and whispered something to him. The first officer nodded and answered, "So if these people are clean, that means they're just insane."

"Exactly!" Owl agreed. "…Wait, I mean no! We're telling the truth!"

The policeman spoke to Elliot, "OK, if you're not insane, then why do you like playing ventriloquist on your pet owl?"

"Ventriloquist?!" Elliot cried.

"Pet?!" Owl scowled indignantly.

"You obviously bought it from the robotic toy store down the street!" accused the officer as he pointed to a store with toy owls that look identical to Owl in it. Right next to them were the talking Clawz dolls.

Claris pleaded, "Could you just please help us find NiGHTS? She could be in terrible danger now!"

The officer sighed and turned to his partner. "I don't know what to tell you. It's such a shame that these kids must be committed as soon as possible."

"RUN!" Elliot yelled, and the three ran away before the policemen could grab them.

* * *

Wizeman tried to keep himself from laughing like a maniac. He was pulling the same trick again, only with a bunch of low-rate Marens! Wait, was Reala now considered low-rate? Bah, it didn't matter since Reala and the others were going to die. Wizeman was about to step into the elevator until he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Chamelan holding a sign that read, "Which observatory are we going to drop them off at?"

"Does it really matter?" Wizeman grumbled.

"Yes!" Chamelan wrote. "The Main Observatory is quick to get to, but it isn't quite as high as the Special Observatory. But the Special Observatory is very small, and the extra height means more time fo" But he ran out of room on his sign.

Wizeman lifted an eyebrow and pointed out, "That last sentence doesn't make any sense."

Chamelan quickly looked for another sign to finish the sentence, but Wizeman was already choosing to go up the Special Observatory.

Queen Bella wrote to Bomamba, "What a jerk."

"Don't waste the signs." Bomamba wrote back.

The group piled into the elevator and waited for it to go up. It was slow because, uh, 5, 7, never mind, a lot of Nightmarens, plus a fish tank, were in the elevator. The elevator music was some Japanese version of a bossa nova song. Wizeman glanced at the one tourist that got on board with them. "It would be best for the next hour or so to not pay attention to us." Wizeman advised. The guy just nodded silently.

Reala kept an eye on NiGHTS, still being held by Donbalon. She tried to turn her head to see him, but couldn't. If he wasn't squished in between Puffy and Bomamba, he would be at his mate's side. He noticed Clawz by his feet and, with great difficulty, kneeled down beside him. "Psst." He whispered, "How're we gonna get out of this one?"

Clawz pondered. "Maybe when Wizeman and the others aren't looking, we can climb our way back down like there's no manana!"

Reala considered this. "Yeah, it might work…But how do we get Wizeman and the others to not look?"

Clawz started pondering more. "Ok…Perhaps when Wizeman and the others aren't looking, we can climb our way back down—"

"You said that already!" Reala growled.

"Well even my pondering has a limit!" Clawz retorted lamely.

Reala sighed. He tried to come up with something, anything, but with alarm he realized that the elevator had stopped.

Wizeman stepped out first and let his Nightmarens follow. Once everyone was out, Wizeman looked around and frowned. "This isn't satisfyingly high…"

Donbalon wrote, "That's because this is the Main Observatory. We have to take the elevator for the Special Observatory here." He pointed to another elevator.

"_Two_ elevators?" Wizeman grumbled in annoyance. "Fine." He said through gritted teeth. "Get in!" They all went into the next available elevator. Wizeman spoke, "Ok, roll call. Everyone here?" He heard several servants scribbling.

Then the signs popped up one by one: "Yes", "Present", "Here", "Yo", "Master, the prisoners escaped!"

Wizeman's eyes blazed behind his sunglasses. "WHAT?!" He pressed his face against the glass door and looked down. He saw Reala and NiGHTS running along the Main Observatory with Clawz and Jackle behind. "NOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo!" His roar faded as the elevator slowly ascended to the top.

"Phew! That was close!" NiGHTS panted.

"And lucky." Reala added. "We have plenty of time to get down. Once we do, we look for the nearest hospital."

"I thought you were against those." Clawz reminded.

"For me, yes. But NiGHTS would be able to handle it."

"Reala, it's ok! I don't need to get to a…" NiGHTS trailed off and her eyes drooped.

"NiGHTS!" Reala caught her before she could fall. He looked worriedly at her. "I just hope we get there in time." He shut his eyes, not wanted to think about it anymore. "Come on! Let's hurry!"

* * *

"I think we lost them." Elliot finally said.

Claris leaned against a wall to catch her breath. "Now we have to figure out where NiGHTS is."

Owl spoke up, "NiGHTS was at the Eiffel tower, correct? Does this place have a similar structure?"

"Yes." Elliot answered. "The Tokyo Tower. It was inspired by the Eiffel tower design."

Owl's feathers ruffled. "If Reala is going to try something dangerous, it would be at a similar structure like that!"

Claris cocked her head at him. "You really think he's gonna try to ramp up the tower with a motorcycle again?"

"What? No!" Owl shook his head impatiently. "He's probably going to kill NiGHTS by dropping her off from the tower's top!"

There was a silence. Elliot scratched his head and started slowly, "You know…I'm not entirely convinced that Reala is still evil."

Owl's eyes widened in disbelief. "How can you say that, boy? He's been NiGHTS' enemy since…well…a long time ago!"

"I get it. But I know Reala, and he seemed more laid back than usual." Elliot explained. "I remember fighting him. I'd seen the killer in his eyes. But now…" He shrugged. "I don't see it anymore."

Owl quickly replied, "Well maybe you can check again if we just go—"

Claris interrupted, "I think Elliot's right, Owl. If Reala was going to kill NiGHTS, he would've done so already."

Owl glared at them. "Fine. I'll go to the Tokyo Tower by myself!" he told them bitterly. His head swiveled around and finally turned to them again. He added normally, "But you'll have to take me there."

* * *

As Reala and his group ran out of the elevator, Clawz asked, "So how are we going to get to the nearest hospital?"

Reala replied, "I would call one, but I don't know Japan's emergency number!" Jackle looked ahead and pointed excitedly. "No, Jackle; we don't have time to do what you want!" But Jackle kept pointing and jumping up and down. Reala groaned, "This is serious! We have to get NiGHTS to a hospital and fast!" He reluctantly looked to where Jackle was pointing and saw the Claris, Elliot, and Owl head towards him. "Oh, why didn't you say so?" Jackle just pouted.

"Aha! There's the perpetrator!" Owl proclaimed.

Claris gasped, "What happened to NiGHTS?"

Reala began, "I know this looks bad, but—"

Owl yelled, "I knew it! See, he is practically admitting it! _Murderer!_"

"No! She just passed out!" Reala insisted.

Elliot looked at NiGHTS and answered, "He's right. She's still breathing."

Clawz spoke up, "Yeah, but we have to get her to a hospital! Anyone know the Japanese emergency number?"

"I'm on it." Claris replied as she dialed it.

Owl, still suspicious, flew in closer and glared at Reala. "If you _really_ love NiGHTS, then why aren't you wearing your wedding ring? _Hmm?_"

Reala stammered in embarrassment, then shook his head and grumbled, "It's a long story…"

But he didn't get to tell it because a voice snarled, "Just what do you think _you're_ doing?!"

Reala and the others looked behind and gasped. "Wizeman?! How did you get down so quickly?"

Wizeman was about to answer, but he asked his Nightmarens, "How _did_ we get down so fast?"

Bella shrugged and held up a sign, "By all accounts, it doesn't make sense."

Wizeman said, "Eh, whatever. Let's just say it's FanFiction magic."

Clawz snorted twice. When everyone looked at him strangely, he said, "What? I had to."

"Nevermind! There'll be no more interruptions!" Wizeman declared.

**Whoops, looks like it's the end of the chapter! Sorry Wizeman.**


	13. Tokyo House

**College is gonna start again soon, so I'm trying to get this done as soon as I can. Oh, and we'll have another guest character in this chapter. Enjoy!**

Chapter 13: Tokyo House

Wizeman tapped his foot impatiently. "Oh, we're back? Good." He let out another evil laugh. "Muhahahaha! Soon I will take over the Dimensions!"

Reala knew they wouldn't be able to escape this time around. Unless… "And then what?"

Wizeman paused his hamminess and stared in confusion at Reala. "Huh?"

"What are you going to do after you take over the Dimensions?"

"I don't understand the question."

Reala clarified, "I mean, don't you think it'll get boring after you kill us and conquer the Dimensions?"

Wizeman narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean? Conquering the Dimensions is what I've always wanted to do."

"Yeah, but don't you have any goals after that?" wondered Reala. "Because if no one is trying to stop you, then where's the fun in attempting to do evil?"

"There are many evil schemes that will last for the rest of eternity!" Wizeman told him.

"Like what?" Reala asked, seeming genuinely interested.

Wizeman looked up thoughtfully. "Well for one thing, there's transforming every Nightopian into a Mepian! Oh yes, that'll be diabolical. And all those people that have been through disasters shall relive those disasters in their dreams! Oh, and I have considered going with the Inception career path."

"Wait, you want to rip off 'Inception'?" questioned Reala.

Wizeman stammered, then declared, "Of course! I'll be able to implant evil thoughts into the minds of do-gooders through their dreams! And then everyone in this world will be evil! Then I shall live forever!"

"And after that?" Reala prompted.

"Force Kenneth Oppel to make a sequel to Firewing in which Shade lives!" Wizeman suddenly looked puzzled. "Wait a minute…why did I say that? Sounds like something the narrator would say."

Reala asked, "Anything else?"

"What do you mean, 'anything else'? What else could I possibly do?!"

"See? That's the problem I'm talking about." Reala said. "Maybe you need some time to think of more long-term goals."

"Hmm, yes. Thinking of more goals would be a good idea." Wizeman agreed.

"Ok, while you're thinking, me and my friends are gonna go away on this ambulance." Said Reala, who was already inside the vehicle with his companions.

Wizeman nodded, oblivious at first. "Ok, new plans…" His head snapped up in fury. "WAIT A MINUTE!" But the ambulance was already speeding away. "They still haven't seen the last of me…" He growled through gritted teeth. "FanFiction magic away!" And he and his Nightmarens disappeared.

* * *

Reala and the others were in the ambulance, talking.

"Sorry we didn't believe you, Reala." Claris said softly.

Elliot nodded. "We shouldn't have listened to Owl."

"_Excuse me_?" Owl screeched in astonishment.

Before the old bird could say anything else, Reala replied to them, "It's ok. I'm…sorry I was a little harsh."

"A _little_?!" fumed Owl.

Reala ignored him and caressed NiGHTS' face. "Clawz, what were you saying about what might be wrong with NiGHTS? You know, before Wizeman came."

"Huh?" Clawz looked up blankly. He furrowed his brows and muttered to himself, "Oh, what was it? What was it?" His ears shot up and he answered, "Oh yeah! I think NiGHTS must be experiencing some type of complication. She may be in a human form, but she's still part Nightmaren. That means NiGHTS has both Nightmaren and human traits. And two groups of traits don't go well with each other."

"So how does that make NiGHTS like this?" Reala asked as he gestured to NiGHTS on the bed.

Clawz thought a bit more, then replied, "I don't know! What am I, a doctor?"

Soon the ambulance stopped at the hospital. Claris told everyone, "We must take her to the Trauma Center!" The paramedics gathered around NiGHTS' bed and carried it out the ambulance. Reala and the group hurried after the paramedics as they sped into the hospital. Unbeknownst to them, Wizeman and his Nightmarens had poofed near the hospital.

"Strange… FanFiction teleportation doesn't take _this_ long…" Wizeman pondered.

"Maybe you shouldn't rely on it too much." Donbalon wrote.

Wizeman snapped, "Don't tell me what I should or shouldn't do!" He saw one of the doctors come out for a coffee break. This gave Wizeman a sneaky idea…

* * *

While NiGHTS was in the ER, the others waited outside. Reala was sitting by the door, ready to jump up at the moment it would open. Clawz was curled up in the chair next to him, glad to finally get a chance to rest. Claris, Elliot, and Owl were watching for Wizeman and the other Nightmarens. And Jackle was sitting very near to the fire extinguisher.

It felt like hours until the doctor finally came out.

"OMIGOSH! You're Hugh Laurie!" Claris squealed fangirlishly.

The doctor replied, "I get that a lot. My name's Dr. House. But this Hugh Laurie sounds like a nice guy."

"Well? How is she?" Reala demanded impatiently.

First, Dr. House had to do a bit of mocking. "I didn't know the circus was in town; I would've bought some cotton candy and a churro. Anyway, I'm not sure about your wife. According to what we analyzed, she's not entirely…human." He looked suspiciously at Reala. "And neither are you, aren't you?"

Reala admitted, "No. We're Nightmarens, from the Night Dimension. I don't expect you to understand, but I really need you to save NiGHTS."

"Ok…" House decided not to give it much thought. "Well, I've had stranger cases. Also, there's something else that's important."

Reala listened.

"She's pregnant."

At first, Reala thought he was joking. But the serious look on his face made it very clear that he wasn't. He gaped at the doctor, dumbstruck. "H-how? I mean, we haven't even…done anything yet!"

"I can tell." House reported dryly. "She is rather slim-hipped."

Reala glared at House with a low growl.

Suddenly Clawz's head went up in realization. "Of course! The portal!"

"I highly doubt the portal got her pregnant." Reala said with a roll of his eyes.

"No! I'm talking about when we were sucked into the portal the last time!" Clawz explained. "After the wedding in Paris, we went into the portal to try to arrive at the Dream Gate. We probably started becoming Nightmarens again and that's when we got jostled around. You and NiGHTS must've crashed into each other, and that's how she became pregnant!"

"Like how the Nightopians reproduce…" said Reala, understanding.

Clawz continued, "But when the portal glitched out, we quickly became humans—er, Earth creatures—again! But since NiGHTS was already pregnant the Nightmaren way when we arrived in Tokyo, her human hormones or whatever must be confused and must think that the egg inside her is some type of foreign object! But her Nightmaren hormones are trying to fight back! That's what I meant when I was talking about the conflict."

What Clawz said sounded a bit farfetched and convoluted, but Reala asked anyway, "So will she be alright or not?"

"I have no idea what you were talking about, nor do I care." But House suggested, "If what the…_cat_ says is true, then the best option would be to surgically remove this egg."

"But it could die!" Reala blurted out worriedly.

"They could _both_ die." House reminded matter-of-factly. "The choice is up to you, but I suggest you think seriously about the consequences." He looked at his watch. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to 'see another patient'." With a mischievous shift of his eyes, he started limping down the hall.

Ignoring the doctor's strange demeanor, Reala racked his brain to think of another way to save NiGHTS. _If the portal caused this problem…maybe…_ He looked at the cat. "Clawz, what if we went back to the Night Dimension? Would that save her?"

Clawz grinned. "Of course it would!" He frowned and said flatly, "But we can't get there."

Reala glanced around and saw Jackle. "Jackle! Let me see the portal creator!"

Jackle fumbled around in his pockets and cape, then eventually dumped his contents onto the floor. The portal creator was not among them. Jackle jumped up and looked around frantically.

"He must've dropped it somewhere!" Claris spoke up.

Elliot said, "We should check the hallways we used on the way here!"

Reala didn't want to leave NiGHTS, especially not after finding out about their child. But they needed the portal creator to get back home. Reluctantly, he ran after the others.

As soon as they had left, a man approached NiGHTS' room. One hand opened the door. The other carried a syringe.

**So yes, NiGHTS was pregnant all along. I tried not to make it obvious and if it seemed to come out of nowhere, go back and read through the chapters because there are subtle hints about her pregnancy.**


	14. Trauma Center

**We're only on chapter 14? O.o This is gonna be a short fanfic.**

Chapter 14: Trauma Center

The hospital was a maze of hallways. Each one looked identical, and Reala was getting discouraged. He was worried that even if they did find the portal creator, they might not have time to find their way back and it would be too late. The thought of losing NiGHTS…it was unbearable to him. Tears of rage stung his eyes. This was all Jackle's fault. "YOU MANIAC!" he roared at the silent jester.

Jackle jumped in surprise and cowered against the wall.

Reala towered over him and continued, "If you had fixed the portal creator, NiGHTS wouldn't be dying! And if you hadn't lost it, NiGHTS STILL WOULDN'T BE DYING!" His heart felt like it was going to explode. He couldn't even control his breathing. "If she dies, so help me Wizeman, I WILL kill you!"

"Reala! Calm down!" Claris and Elliot said as they tried to pull Reala away from Jackle.

"No!" Reala struggled against the former Visitors. "You don't understand!"

Clawz stood between Jackle and Reala. "We don't have time for you to be emo right now!" he told him severely. "We need to concentrate on the task at hand, and you're wasting precious seconds bickering!"

Reala stopped struggling and collapsed on the floor, panting. "You're right." He said after a moment. He got up to continue searching, when Dr. House limped towards them.

The doctor stated, "Ok, after a lot of thought, I've decided not to call the media. They might start asking me questions, and I don't want anyone to know that I faked my death and snuck into Japan to continue my medical practices."

Reala stared at him silently for a few seconds. Then he asked suspiciously, "Are you a real doctor?"

House answered, "No, I am a fictional doctor, and I'm ok with that."

A nurse walked up to them and said to House, "Your replacement came. He said you could go home now."

Hugh Laurie—I mean, Dr. House furrowed his brows. "I didn't call for a replacement…"

"Oh." The nurse looked befuddled. "He told me he was, then he went into your patient's room. I think he was carrying a syringe."

House raised an eyebrow. "Uh, maybe he _lied_?"

Reala and his friends glanced at each other in shock. "NiGHTS!"

"But we also have to find the portal creator!" Elliot reminded. "Maybe we should split up."

"Fine." House directed, "You, your robotic pet owl, and the stage 1 fangirl, go look for your portal thingy. The rest of you freaks come with me." Because he was limping and using a cane, it was easy for Reala, Clawz, and Jackle to outrun him in the general direction of NiGHTS' room.

Reala leapt up the stairs, two at a time. He wondered if Wizeman was behind this. After all he'd done so far, he wouldn't be surprised. Finally, he and his friends made it to the hallway where the room was. To their surprise they saw Dr. House waiting for them up ahead.

"Took you long enough." House commented boredly.

Reala cocked his head. "How did you…?"

House pointed his cane at the elevator beside them.

"Oh." The three Nightmaren-humans ran to the room with House and burst through the door.

Wizeman was cradling NiGHTS in his arms, the way a father cradled his child. "Shhh…" he whispered to them tauntingly with a dark smile. "NiGHTS is sleeping. Muhahaha…"

"I knew it was you!" Reala declared. He tried to take a step forward, but Cerberus jumped in front of him, snarling. Despite him being a single-headed dog, he still had the ferocious fangs that would make anyone tremble. The rest of Wizeman's Nightmarens surrounded the small group, blocking their exit.

House glanced around, seeing no escape. "Ah crap."

Reala froze where he was and stared in apprehension at NiGHTS' limp body. "What have you done to her?!"

"Hush, Reala. I have decided not to kill her yet." Wizeman replied.

"Huh?" The red jester was relieved, but confused. Then he noticed the unused syringe on the table. "Why?" he asked warily.

Wizeman explained, "You see, I was about to, but then I learned of her pregnancy. This was an opportunity I couldn't pass up."

"What are you talking about?"

"A Nightmaren born from two First-Level Nightmarens! Just think of the power it could possess!" Wizeman went on greedily. "It may even be able to replace all those wretched low-lives."

Reala heard a few gulps from the Marens surrounding them.

Wizeman grinned evilly at Reala. "And in time, who knows? It might make a loyal servant…"

Reala yelled in rage and lunged forward, forgetting about Cerberus. The huge dog clamped his jaws shut on Reala's leg, causing him to collapse on the floor. "ARGH!" Reala squeezed his hands around his wound. "DAMN YOU, WIZEMAN!"

Clawz sighed, "Again with the swearing…"

Wizeman looked down at Reala spitefully. "Face it, Reala, you wouldn't make a good father anyway."

"I'd be a whole lot better than you!"

"And NiGHTS may be loving, but she's so naïve and oblivious."

"SHUT UP!" Reala struggled to stand, but his leg was bleeding badly.

House offered, "Need a cane?" as he held out his.

Reala gratefully took it. "Thanks." He gripped the handle tightly and with a quick swing, he whacked Wizeman hard on the head.

"OWWW!" roared Wizeman in pain as he stumbled backwards.

Reala handed the cane back to House. "Here you go."

House just stared at him quizzically.

Clawz shook his head somberly. "He'll never use objects for their intended purpose."

Wizeman managed to recover from the blow. "You DARE insult me?"

"Kinda weird that you still have to ask that, but yeah." responded Reala.

"Then it's about time that I kill you right now! Nightmarens, ATTACK!" Wizeman ordered.

A big battle ensued. Reala, filled with determination, forgot about his injured leg and used Kung Fu: Jester Style. Clawz used Fury Swipes. Jackle used Water Gun (with a water gun he bought at the pharmacy). And the opponents used their signs.

"There's too many of them!" Clawz cried, desperately trying to dodge the signs and feet smashing down.

Reala was struggling with Chamelan when he noticed that House was sitting in a chair watching something inappropriate on his laptop. "A little help, please?" he strained.

House sighed in irritation as he reluctantly closed his laptop and got out of the chair.

Chamelan was about to bring his sign down on Reala, when a blade sliced the white board off, close to Chamelan's fingers.

"Good thing I brought my ax cane." House said, holding his cane that now had an ax blade protruding from one end. But even with House cutting up all the Nightmarens' signs, the enemies still inflicted damage by poking our heroes rather hard with their sticks! …It's not how it sounds, you dirty-minded people.

Just as Reala thought it was the end, the door swung open. Claris, Elliot, and Owl stared in shock at the scene in front of them. Elliot shouted, "CHARGE!" and he joined the fray with Claris.

Owl hesitated nervously. "Um, are you sure we—HOO!" His wings flailed in surprise as Elliot grabbed his leg and pulled him into the brawl.

The fight was fairer now, but more intense. The evil Nightmarens decided to ditch their signs and used better tactics. Gulpo and Girania tried to leap up and snap at anyone who came close enough to their tank. Bomamba threw her cats around crazily. Chamelan flung his sharp cards in a way that rivaled Jackle's card abilities. Cerberus was mostly going after Clawz, as they were a dog and cat, respectively. Donbalon and Puffy were blocking the exits. Queen Bella was using her last surviving weapon: homemade nun-chucks. And Gillwing was…feebly trying to scratch at the legs of his enemies.

Bomamba saw this and asked him with a new sign, "You're a Komodo Dragon, so why don't you just eat them?"

Gillwing, who found a way to write with the marker in his mouth, replied sheepishly, "Nervous stomach."

Jackle ran out of water in his water gun, and his heart sank. Now he didn't have anything to douse himself if he spontaneously combusted. And he doubted there was enough space in this crowded room for him to stop, drop, and roll. He felt a tap on his shoulder and he turned around to see Chamelan smirking at him with a card in his hand. Jackle narrowed his eyes and picked up his own card. It was time to d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-duel!

While they were playing Yu-Gi-Oh with their homemade character cards, Reala was squaring off against Queen Bella. She was agile and ninja-like, and he was already hugely disadvantaged with his injured leg. Still, he was able to get rid of her cheap nun-chucks with his brawn. They were soon in a fistfight, though neither of them seemed to be landing any hits.

Back with the card fanatics, Chamelan had just placed down his next card while mouthing, "Shadow the Hedgehog!"

Jackle frowned, as he didn't have any cards that could beat Shadow. Then he got an idea and grabbed a blank card and drew on it with some crayons. He proudly placed it down while mouthing, "Reala the Nightmaren!"

Chamelan glared at Jackle, then quickly scribbled up a new card. "Chamelan the Nightmaren!" he mouthed.

"You're not better than Reala!" mouthed Jackle.

Chamelan countered, "Yes I am! My boss fight with NiGHTS is way more complicated!" (They're still mouthing, by the way.)

"How so?"

"I use evil cards, and chameleons are awesome!"

"…Not as awesome as Jackle!" he slammed down a Jackle card.

"No one can beat Wizeman!"

"Except for MY Wizeman card!"

Both of them put down Wizeman cards at the same time.

"Mine's better!" said Chamelan.

"No, mine is!"

"MINE!"

"Let's get a second opinion." Jackle looked around. "Reala! I need help!" Then he realized he was still mouthing. "Oh." And THEN he realized that Wizeman was sneaking up on Reala with the syringe in his hand, and Reala wasn't aware as he was still fighting Bella. Jackle waved his hands, trying to get Reala's attention.

Chamelan was confused. "What are you doing?"

But Jackle was desperately trying to warn Reala. If it wasn't so crowded, Jackle would be able to go up to Reala. Even if he tried now, he wouldn't make it in time because Wizeman was about to stab him with the needle. Finally, Jackle pushed aside his own fears about what might happen to himself and he screamed, "REALA BEHIND YOU!"

**To be continued…**


	15. The Hobos Strike Back

**Our least competent villains make an unsuspected return!**

Chapter 15: The Hobos Strike Back

"REALA BEHIND YOU!" Jackle screamed. He blinked in confusion. "Didn't I just say that?"

In a split second, Reala glanced over his shoulder and ducked, narrowly avoiding the syringe. Wizeman accidentally plunged the needle into Bella's neck. At first she reared back in surprise and ripped the needle out, then she collapsed as the poison took effect.

Jackle's heart stopped. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! ISABELLAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Apparently, Jackle's cry was so loud that everyone in the room froze and stared at him. Now that they were still, Jackle charged at Wizeman with a look of pure wrath in his crazy eyes. No one had seen Jackle like this; even Wizeman was shocked. He barely had time to move out of the way as Jackle lunged at him. He managed to grab Wizeman's cape, and pulled hard. "GRAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Whether it was from Jackle's strength or his shriek of fury, the cape ripped in half.

"NOOOOOOOOOO! MY AWESOME CAPE!" Wizeman bellowed, losing any hint of serious groove he had left. The torn edges of his cape briefly crackled with black electricity, then sent a dark shockwave throughout the room. It dissolved quickly, but no one was sure what happened.

That is, until Gillwing muttered, "Well that was disappointing."

Donbalon gasped and pointed at him. "You just talked!" He gasped again. "_I_ just talked!"

All the evil Nightmarens began rejoicing that they got their voices back. Er…except for Queen Bella, who wasn't doing too hot. Jackle was kneeling beside her, grief-stricken. Reala looked down at him, actually feeling a pang of sympathy for him. "Jackle…" He tried to find comforting words, but it was too hard. "Sorry, I got nothing."

"It's my fault…" Jackle said shakily. "If I hadn't saved you, she might still be ok…"

Wizeman growled at his idle minions and snapped, "What are you waiting for? Finish them off!"

"Now wait just a minute!" Puffy spoke up boldly. "Queen Bella is dying and you want us to ignore her?"

"Yes! Unless you want to be next…" Wizeman sneered impatiently.

Donbalon stood in front of Puffy and countered, "Hey, back off, jerk!"

Everyone stared in astonishment at Donbalon.

"…Yeah, I said it!" The round Nightmaren-man stared hard at Wizeman. "You're always threatening us and stuff! You never treat us right!"

Before Wizeman could object, Girania added, "You always make us do the dirty work! And you never compliment us for our efforts!"

"Because you always FAIL!" snarled Wizeman.

"See? You're doing it again!" Chamelan pointed out. "Instead of encouraging us, you always criticize us! You never tell us how we can improve!"

Bomamba hissed, "All you care about is your stupid plans for killing NiGHTS! When we have problems, you never listen to us!"

"_So?_" Wizeman seethed.

"This is why you took away our voices!" accused Gulpo. "You didn't want our opinions! You just want us to break our backs while you just sit back without serious groove!"

"Now hold on, buckos! I still got serious groove in me!" objected Wizeman.

"Forget it! If this is how you're gonna act, then we won't be a part of it!" declared Gillwing before sticking his tongue at him. "Cerberus, sic him!" Cerberus growled in agreement and approached Wizeman in a combat stance.

"Now now, is that how you're going to treat your best friend?" said Wizeman in an attempt to calm Cerberus down. "Cerbie, if you stay loyal to me, I'll feed you parts of Jackle!" Cerberus didn't buy it.

Puffy stood by the Nightmarens and sang, "Now, we attAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!" The Nightmarens charged at Wizeman and lunged into battle. The animals maimed Wizeman on his ears and arms while the humans punched and kicked Wizeman in remaining areas.

Reala watched for a few seconds, then said to his friends, "We should go." They quietly snuck out of the room and closed the door so they didn't have to hear Wizeman's painful howls.

For an awkward moment, Reala just sat holding NiGHTS while House patched up his leg beside a distraught-looking Jackle. Clawz licked his paw and swiped it over one ear. Claris, Elliot and Owl stood across from them without making eye contact.

"Oh, by the way…" said House as he took out a strange device. "I found this odd gun on the floor earlier. Naturally, this thing would belong to you since you seem to have a thing for subconscious crap."

Reala's eyes widened once again. "That's the portal creator! Why didn't you bring it up _before_ Wizeman attacked us?"

"Oh _that's_ what this thing was?" asked House quizzically. "I thought it was your hairdryer."

Reala snatched it from House and examined it. It looked like it still wasn't working, but at least it wasn't even more damaged. "We must fix this so we can get back to Nightopia and save NiGHTS!"

"But how? We don't know what's wrong with it!" Clawz pointed out.

Reala heard a murmur from near his chest.

"Re…Reala?" NiGHTS whispered weakly.

The red jester gasped in surprise and held her up closer. "NiGHTS? Are you ok?" Her eyes still didn't open and her breathing was irregular, but at least she was alive.

"Reala… Wizeman…" she said, struggling with her breath.

"It's okay NiGHTS. We stopped him." said Reala, hoping that any assurance would make NiGHTS feel better.

Dr. House quickly examined NiGHTS and told Reala, "She is close to having the baby. We should take her to another room in case you can't fix the portal creator in time."

"No, thanks, but I don't trust hospitals anymore." Reala said as he carried NiGHTS to the exit along with the other Marens and humans.

House gawked at the leaving group. "Well, ex-CUSE me!" He watched them exit the building. "…Fine. I have cooler things to do. Like a meeting with Mr. Vicodin!"

* * *

Once the group was outside, Clawz asked bluntly, "So if the hospital's out of the question, what are we supposed to do now?"

Jackle sniffled, "W-w-well, i-i-if _you_ hadn't left Isabella dying-"

"Jackle, she was Queen Bella." Owl reminded him firmly. "In the Night Dimension, she would've bitten your head off."

"I wouldn't care!" spat Jackle. He sat on the sidewalk and crossed his arms.

Reala thought for a moment, then he sat down beside Jackle. "Look, I'm sorry we didn't get to save Bella. …But at least you saved _my_ life. And I'm grateful for it." He took a deep breath and added, "This is the only time I'm gonna say this. I… was actually impressed. Thanks."

Jackle sniffed, "R-Really?"

"Yes, especially since you thought you were going to burn up from talking." Reala added with a chuckle.

"Ha ha ha, wait, why are you laughing?"

Reala nervously looked at Jackle. There was no way he'd get out of this one without telling the truth. He took a deep breath. "Okay Jackle. Remember when I got really angry at you for destroying the Imperial Palace?"

"Wait a minute Reala! I figured it out!" Jackle said with beaming eyes.

"Y-you did?" asked Reala tensely.

"He _did_?" gasped the others.

Jackle explained, "You said that only troublesome boys are in danger of spontaneous combustion. But now that I did a good deed in saving your life, I'm not a bad boy anymore! I'm finally safe!" He ran around in a circle jubilantly. "YES! FREE AT LAST! FREE AT LAST!"

Reala awkwardly looked at Jackle and at his friends. "Err well uhhhh yeah! That's exactly what I was going to say!" He patted Jackle on the head. "Well done, Jax."

The heartwarming moment was interrupted as per Rule of Funny. "HI-YAAAAAH!" shouted a crowd of hobos as they surrounded the group.

Reala recognized the lead hobo instantly. "You again?"

"You know each other?" asked Elliot.

Clawz flatly recapped, "He stole Reala's wedding ring and he was trying to get it back this whole fanfic."

"Don't tell NiGHTS." hissed Reala. He turned back to the hobo and sneered, "What, you want to steal my _wife's_ ring now?"

"Yes!" said the hobo cheerfully. "Right after we beat you up according to our new boss's orders!"

"New boss?" questioned Clawz. "Wait, did this boss have sunglasses, a blue cape, spiky hair, and a bunch of strange people that talked with signs?"

One of the other hobos responded, "Hm, me wouldn't say _strange_, but that's the guy!"

"Wizeman!" the group growled knowingly.

The leader explained, "Yes, he told us to ambush you out here in case capturing you failed!"

"So what took you so long?"

"We got lost from so many hitchhikings." the lead hobo answered. He rubbed his hands greedily and added, "But now we fight you now! He promise us ten million yen and a lifetime supply of hentai!"

Reala slightly winced and said, "Uh, given the implications of that, I don't think that's a fair reward."

"Enough talk! Let's fight!" shouted the leader. "Hiya! Woo! Hua!" The hobos started launching uncoordinated karate moves and spinning around aimlessly. Reala and the others just stared unimpressed. When the hobos soon lost control, they started crashing into each other and fell down collectively.

"…Talk about a Curb-Stomp Battle." Clawz remarked with a chuckle.

Reala grabbed the lead hobo's hand and pulled off his ring with a popping sound. "Oww!" the hobo whimpered. Reala put the ring back on his own hand, glad to finally have that subplot completed.

Owl cleared his throat in a bit of embarrassment. "Hm. I suppose I was…slightly incorrect about your intentions, Reala. Yes, just an honest mistake." The others glared at him and he forced himself to continue, "I can see that you really care about NiGHTS and your friends. I'm, er…sorry. For not believing you."

Reala nodded at him gratefully. "Thank you."

"Uh, NiGHTS is still in danger." reminded Claris.

"Oh yeah." Said the others. Everyone continued running, though they weren't sure where they should be going. They rounded the corner of a street and skidded to a halt when they saw dozens of flashing police cars in front of them.

"Hands where we can see 'em!" a cop shouted, jumping out from behind a car along with other officers. They were all pointing guns at Reala and his friends.

Clawz protested, "Hey, what's with all the guns? This is supposed to be a kids fic!"

Er…fine. Their guns are now walkie-talkies.

"Huh?" gasped the policemen as they stared at the walkie-talkies that were suddenly in their hands. The lead cop shook off his confusion and barked, "You're under arrest for destruction of the Imperial Palace, attempted murder, and disrupting a cosplay!"

Reala said in disbelief, "You were chasing us this whole time?!"

"We're very persistent." replied the cop.

Elliot glanced at Claris and she nodded. They both stepped forward calmly and Elliot said, "Ok, we can explain. You see, we were just—RUN FOR IT GUYS!"

Reala and the others understood and they ran away as fast as they could.

"Hey! Get back here!" shouted the cops. As soon as they started to run, Elliot knocked over a mailbox in front of the police. Some of the officers tripped and fell over it, while the others who got around it were slowed when Claris pushed them over with a bike.

Reala looked over his shoulder at them as he kept running, and felt warm and fuzzy because of their sacrifice. "Many thanks, Visitors!" he called out.

Claris and Elliot briefly grinned and waved before going back to holding off the cops.

The Nightmarens didn't stop running until they couldn't hear the police anymore. Reala set NiGHTS down to give his arms a break. "What…now?" he asked breathlessly.

Owl faced him indignantly. "You mean you don't have a plan?"

"Well," Reala sighed, "I have one, but I'm not sure it's going to work."

"Life and death's a bad time to be picky, so I say we just go for it and hope for the best." Said Clawz.

The red jester glanced around, trying to find familiar signs and buildings. "Ok, but problem is I don't seem to know where we are…" Suddenly, he recognized a woman walk out of a store. "Hey! Lady!" Picking up NiGHTS, he dashed across the street to her.

The woman in a white uniform smiled at him. "I remember you. From the concert, right?"

Reala pointed an accusing finger at her. "Aha! I knew it! I knew you were pretending to be four different people!"

"You came over just to tell her that?" Clawz muttered, coming up beside him with Jackle and Owl.

Just then, three other identical women walked out of the store and stood beside the first one. "Hello," one of them said. "Konnichewa," greeted the other two.

Reala gawked and his finger drooped in confusion. "_Huh?_"

The first woman introduced, "I believe you've met my identical sisters before."

After staring for a moment, Reala regained his composure and cleared his throat awkwardly. "Right, right. I suppose I was mistaken." Then he remembered the real reason he had come over. He asked urgently, "What's the fastest way to the SEGA headquarters?"

"WHAT?!" Clawz and Jackle yelled.

Owl tilted his head. "Why? What's SEGA?"

Jackle quickly blurted, "Well see we're all video game characters made by Takashi Iizuka, the head of the SEGA company but when we went there the first time he didn't believe that we were the real deal and nothing we could do would convince him and then I made a joke that I probably shouldn't have and then he—" He stopped when Reala placed a hand over his mouth.

The first woman answered, "I'd be happy to tell you, but we're no longer taking tours at this hour."

"I understand, but please, it's important." Reala begged, looking at NiGHTS.

The woman pointed down the street. "The fasted way would be to take that subway and get off at the third stop."

"WHAAAAT?!" Clawz, Jackle, and Reala yelled at the thought of going back on a subway.

Owl sighed. "I'm not even going to ask."

Reala gulped. To his friends he said determinedly, "Come on guys. We can do this! For NiGHTS!" He ran off.

"Yeah!" Jackle cheered and went after him.

Clawz mewed terrified, "Help me…" and slowly followed.

"Oh, come on now!" Owl said impatiently as he picked up Clawz in his talons and carried him off.

The first woman waited until they were out of earshot, then smiled mischievously at the others. "Well done, girls. We fooled him."

The other three women turned their heads to the first one and grinned slyly as a breeze caused their holographic bodies to flicker momentarily.

**We will see the exiting conclusion in the last chapter before the epilogue! Stay tuned!**


	16. Nightopia or Bust

**The climax continues! (Note: I am still not trying to offend any real life people.)**

Chapter 16: Nightopia or Bust

Takashi Iizuka walked across the parking garage, fiddling for his keys in his pocket. He pulled them out as he approached his car and pressed the unlock button. The front door opened automatically and he went inside, setting his briefcase down on the passenger seat. He got the car going and drove out of the garage and onto the street. He sighed contentedly, thankful this long day was finally over.

"HI MR. IIZUKA!"

"AAAH!" Takashi slammed on the brakes, and fortunately no one was driving behind him. He whipped his head to the back seat and gasped in horror.

Reala glared at Jackle, who had shouted earlier. "Jackle! I told you to let me handle this!"

Iizuka continued to stare with his mouth wide open. "You guys again! H-how did you even get in my car?"

"That's not important right now." Reala said. "Look, I know you don't believe that we're real characters from your video game, but you're our only hope for getting back to our universe and saving NiGHTS!"

A car horn beeped from behind and Takashi was forced to drive along. "You're insane! All of you!" he said while watching them cautiously in his rearview mirror.

Owl scoffed, "I expected our creator to be a bit more civil."

Clawz shrugged beside him. "You can't blame him, really. I mean, we did just break into his car."

"Get out right now!" Takashi ordered.

"Not until you help us out." Reala pointed the portal creator at the frightened man, who became even more terrified at the sight of the strange object.

"NO!" the SEGA president cried. "Please, don't shoot! There are so many games I wanted to make!"

"Huh? …No, it's not a gun." Reala clarified. "It's our portal creator, a device that can allow us to travel between dimensions. It's how we got here in the first place."

"And now it's broken!" Jackle added.

Clawz spoke up, "And since you're the one who made us, you might be able to fix it for us!"

"No! I don't know anything about portals! That's for our engineers to figure out!" Iizuka exclaimed. Then his eyes widened and he covered his mouth with one hand. "Oops."

Reala leaned closer. "Your engineers?"

"T-that's not what I—"

"So you_ have_ been studying portals!"

"No!"

Jackle crossed his arms and pouted, "If you don't tell us how to get home, I'm gonna annoy you!"

Iizuka kept his eyes on the road, but his anger was mounting. "For the last time, NO!"

"Howdowegethome? Howdowegethome? Howdowegethome? Howdowegethome? Howdowegethome? Howdowegethome? Howdowegethome? Howdowegethome? Howdowegethome? Howdowegethome? Howdowegethome? Howdowegethome? Howdoweget..."

Takashi sank his head lower and growled in annoyance as Jackle kept repeating the phrase while bouncing in his seat.

"He can go on for hours, you know." Reala told Takashi calmly over Jackle's motor mouth.

Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. "Ok, OK!" Takashi took a deep breath and turned his head to Jackle. "If I tell you how, will you shut up and leave me alone?"

"Howdowe—Ok." Replied Jackle as he instantly quieted.

Takashi confessed in exasperation, "I'll admit, your appearance at the company got me curious about interdimensional travel. So I told the lab boys, and they built a machine that, in theory, can open a portal to a fictional universe."

Clawz exclaimed, "What? You actually built a portal creator in less than 24 hours?"

"We have a lot of time on our hands nowadays."

Owl asked, "Does it work?"

"Again, in theory." Takashi stated. "We haven't been able to test it yet."

"Where is it?" demanded Reala.

"That is top secret information." Iizuka said sternly. He saw Jackle take a deep breath and quickly added, "Which is located in the secret basement at SEGA headquarters that only I and the engineers can access!"

"Thank you." Reala said politely. "We'll leave you alone now."

The car stopped and Takashi was pushed out. Before he could try to get back in, Reala and the others drove away back in the direction of SEGA headquarters. "Wait!" Takashi called after them futilely. "You could've just taken my…pass." He sighed heavily and rubbed his face. Then he trudged to the edge of the sidewalk and stuck out this thumb. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Reala raced down the street, knocking over road signs and anything that was unfortunate enough to be in his path. Clawz rode shotgun to relay directions, while NiGHTS laid across the back seat with Jackle and Owl watching over her. Finally, they came to the headquarters, and Reala didn't think twice about crashing right through the double doors of the entrance.

"Uh…why didn't you just park?" Clawz asked, glancing back at the damage and startled people.

"Driving's faster." Reala replied simply. He turned a corner, heading for the stairs. But when he saw that the door to the staircase was too small, he turned into another hallway, where more people screamed and tried not to get run over. "Drat! Stairs are out of the question. Anyone see something else that can take us to the basement?"

Jackle suggested, "How about an elevator?"

Owl saw the door to an elevator and squawked, "There's no way we can fit through there!"

Clawz pointed with his paw and spoke up, "Well, we could just use the one for cars."

Right beside the regular elevator was one that was big enough to occupy a vehicle. Without waiting for the doors to open, Reala drove right through them and screeched to a stop so that the car rested perfectly inside the lift. He rolled down his window and pressed the button that said "Secret Basement" and the elevator started to descend slowly with Japanese elevator music softly playing. And by Japanese elevator music, I mean Vocaloid. When they reached the basement, the elevator dinged, but Reala drove through the doors without waiting for them to open again. There didn't seem to be any workers down there and the only lights were small ones hanging above doors, which were labeled in Japanese and English.

"Let me know if you see anything." Said Reala, referring to the labels.

Owl flapped his wings. "Hoo! There!" He pointed to the end of the hallway where a large door was labeled, "Portal Room and Donut Dispensary".

Jackle's mouth instantly watered. "Mmm…donuts…"

Everyone braced themselves as Reala broke through the locked door, leaving the car in one crumpled piece. They all got out and gazed at the large room. In the center was a large metal ring sitting upright on a stand. The stand had wires hooked up to it from a large computer on one side of the room.

"That must be the portal creator." Reala noted, placing NiGHTS down in front of it. "Now how do we make it work?"

Clawz called from over by the computer, "Guys, look!" On the screen showed a dialogue box that said "Please select your language" with options for either Japanese or English.

"English, we want English." Said Owl when he, Reala, and Jackle came over.

Reala touched the screen to select English, then the screen changed to a menu with a few options. One of them was simply, "Create New Portal", so he chose that one. He remarked, "This doesn't seem too hard." But then another box stated, "Insert dimension coordinates" and Reala frowned. "…Uh, what's our coordinates?"

"Wait, what's that?" Jackle asked, his mouth full of donuts, as he pointed to a corner of the screen.

A small animated robot waved at them adorably and a speech bubble popped up above it which read, "It looks like you are trying to create a portal. Would you like some help?" The topics it listed were: "What's a portal?", "Can't find my coordinates!", "I'm stuck in an interdimensional tunnel. Now what?", and "Is any of this related to video games?"

Reala surveyed the options. "I think we'll go with 'Can't find my coordinates'."

The screen then displayed a starry sky with different icons in many places. The instructions from the robot buddy read, "Choose your universe." It seemed that each universe was represented by something iconic.

"Hey, look!" Jackle squeaked. "We can go to the Mario Universe!" He pointed to a mushroom icon.

Reala smacked his powdered hand away. "We're looking for the NiGHTS Universe." He scanned though the icons and noticed one that was a red, diamond-shaped jewel. "An Ideya shard!" he gasped. "That must be it!"

When he touched it, the screen read, "You've chosen the NiGHTS Universe. Confirm your decision by touching 'OK' to create portal." Without hesitating, he did.

Machines from all over the room started to come alive with beeps, whirrs, and lights. The giant ring itself surged with power until finally, a portal expanded into the space inside it.

Reala and the others exchanged amazed glances and gazed at the portal in all its swirly glory.

Until the power noises died down and the portal vanished after 2 seconds.

Reala gaped in dismay and stuttered, "W-what? But…How c—I don't…"

"The computer says we don't have enough power to keep the portal open." Owl said worriedly. "Which is bad because even though we can jump through in a second, the portal needs to be open long enough for us to reach our destination. Otherwise we'd be stuck in an interdimensional tunnel."

Clawz's fur bristled. "So how're we supposed to get more power?"

Jackled pondered, "Well, we can't wait around for a thunderstorm, so maybe there's some batteries around here."

But Owl shook his head. "No, this requires a huge amount of energy. Something as strong as an Ideya, perhaps."

Reala's head snapped up. "Did you say Ideya?" He ran over to NiGHTS and found that her Ideya shard was still hanging around her neck. He gently removed it and showed it to Owl. "Would this be enough?"

Owl briefly examined it. "It's possible…"

"It's all we got." Reala said firmly. He went over to a mechanical crate that seemed to be generating all the power. After swiftly analyzing it, he began, "I just realized…"

The others waited expectantly.

"…I have no idea what I'm doing."

"Oh, give me that!" Owl snapped. He swiped the Ideya necklace and hovered over the machine. Muttering to himself, Owl located an empty battery compartment and shoved the gem inside. It was a perfect fit. The power surged once again and the portal reopened.

Jackle shrieked, "YES! LET'S GO!" Before he could jump in, Reala grabbed him.

"Hold on." The red jester spoke up. "We can't leave without the Ideya."

"What? Why not?" Clawz asked.

Reala stared seriously at everyone. "Because NiGHTS needs it to live. If we get to Nightopia and she doesn't have it, she'll die."

Owl sighed. "Yes, it appears she relies on its power to sustain herself."

"But the portal needs it to stay open!" reminded Clawz.

Reala looked back at NiGHTS, starting to panic. He gulped and faced the others. "Ok, there's only one way I can think of this working out. One of us takes out the Ideya and throws it into the portal before it closes, after the rest of us have gone through it."

Clawz stared at him wide-eyed. "You mean one of us…"

"Stays behind, yes."

There was a short moment of awkward silence, which was broken when Jackle sighed sadly, "Just promise me you'll write often."

The sadness in his voice made Reala feel a bit sorry for him. "Aw, Jackle, you don't have to do that…"

The card maniac looked up hopefully. "I don't?"

"We need you with us. I mean, sure you get on my nerves 99 percent of the time. But you're still a part of our weird, dysfunctional family." Reala smiled at him.

Jackle grinned. "THANKS, REALA!" He glomped the red jester, who pushed him off at once.

Reala added sternly, "That doesn't mean 'want to touch'."

Just then, there was a loud crash at the entrance, clouding it with black smoke. Nine figures emerged from it, revealing themselves to be Wizeman's nine other Nightmarens!

"I see we arrived just in time." noted Chamelan.

"Wait a minute, how'd you guys get here?" Reala asked.

"Same way you did." Donbalon answered dryly and he pressed the lock button on his car keys. The smoke cleared to reveal the Nightmarens' car had crashed into the back of Takashi's.

Jackle suddenly noticed someone in the group. "ISABELLA!" he shrilled with joy. He hadn't recognized her at first because she was now wearing a regal Victorian dress instead of her black body suit. In fact, all the human Nightmarens were now wearing their usual garments.

To everyone's surprise, she dipped her head politely. "No, it's just Bella now."

Jackle sniffed back happy tears. "I thought you were dead!"

"…I got better." She said casually, tapping on the bandage on her neck.

Reala interrupted, "That's great, but we really have to go!"

Bomamba stepped forward and said, "Don't worry. We'll throw the Ideya shard after you."

Reala and his friends blinked in surprise. "But," he started, "aren't you guys coming with us?"

The nine Nightmarens glanced at each other, then back at Reala and responded in unison, "Nah."

"We kinda like it here." Gulpo told him.

Puffy added, "And there would be no use for us in the Night Dimension now that Wizeman is gone."

Upon hearing their decision, Jackle started to dash towards the Ideya. "I changed my mind! I wanna stay here with Bella!" But Reala held him back.

Queen Bella smiled sweetly. "Don't worry, Jackle. I'll be fine here. You need to take care of your friends."

Jackle gazed at her longingly. "I'll never forget you! And I…I love you!"

Bella walked up to him, looking bashful. "You know, I…I think I secretly always loved you, Jackle."

Jackle beamed with glee. "Really?"

"…_No_." Her smile was instantly replaced with a disgusted scowl as she punched Jackle in the face, so hard that he fell over. She stormed back to the others with her arms crossed, leaving Jackle, and everyone else, staring at her in astonishment.

"Ok, time to go!" Reala announced quickly. He guided a very stunned Jackle towards the portal and shoved him in. Clawz and Owl went next. Reala picked up NiGHTS and glanced over his shoulder at the waving Nightmarens. "Thanks, guys." he murmured before jumping in.

**The journey is almost over! Get ready for the epilogue!**


	17. The End at Last

**I feel like I should apologize for my "Hope Into Dreams" fic. I had no idea what a Mary Sue was at the time and only found out recently, so I'm really sorry if it annoyed some people. I'm not going to take it down though, in case some readers actually liked it. But I do poke fun at it a bit in this epilogue. Enjoy! …And again, sorry.**

Epilogue: The End at Last

The portal opened at the Dream Gate and dumped our heroes onto some kids who were unfortunate enough to be under it.

"Ugh…" Reala and his friends groaned, rolling off of the Visitors. Then they noticed that the whole Dream Gate was full of Visitors who all seemed to have been waiting there a long time.

Reala ignored them and looked at NiGHTS. To his relief, she looked much better, but he knew that she wouldn't survive without her Ideya shard for long. A second later, her shard fell out of the portal and landed on the pavement, right before the portal disappeared. Reala hesitated, knowing he nor the other Nightmarens would be able to touch it. Then he got an idea. "Hey, you!" He pointed to a nearby Visitor. "I need your help! Quickly!"

The young girl nervously went up to him. "Ok…"

"Place that jewel it in the center of her chest!" Reala instructed, laying NiGHTS down. "Hurry!"

The girl cautiously picked up the shard and kneeled beside the purple jester. "Like this?" she asked, holding the Ideya above where it should go.

"Yes." Said Reala. "Now push it down until it fuses."

She did, and the Ideya glowed brightly. The girl didn't let go until the gem returned to its normal state.

NiGHTS' eyes suddenly shot open and she gasped.

"NiGHTS!" Reala exclaimed and he pushed the girl out of the way to hug his mate. "I'm so glad you're ok!"

NiGHTS hugged him tightly. "Oh Reala! I had the worst nightmare! We were in Japan and we were being chased by Wizeman and—"

Owl cleared his throat. When NiGHTS looked at him, he pointed to souvenirs and leftover yen that had fallen out of their pockets.

"…Oh." NiGHTS said in remembrance. Then she winced. "Guys, I think the egg is coming!"

"Nobody panic!" Clawz said panicky. "Everyone give her some room!"

Reala looked around. "No, we need somewhere more private." He picked NiGHTS up and flew into the door that lead to Pure Valley.

"Hey, wait for us!" Clawz grabbed Jackle's cape with his teeth and pulled him along through the door.

Owl flew past the protesting Visitors and told them, "No time for my tutorial now, just keep waiting!" He disappeared.

* * *

NiGHTS and Reala smiled warmly at the baby Nightmaren in their arms. After the egg had hatched, they had wrapped the baby in a blanket and sat in the shade of a tree.

Owl flew over to them, carrying a pitcher of water. "I've brought you some more water, NiGHTS."

"Thanks, Owl." NiGHTS handed her baby to Reala and gulped down the water straight out from the pitcher. "Ahh…" she sighed contently and wiped her mouth.

Clawz ran up to them with something in his mouth. "Hey, guys! Look what the Nightopians made!" he said between his teeth. He placed down a small, yellow and green jester outfit with a matching two-tailed jingle hat and gloves.

NiGHTS gasped in delight. "Awww, that's adorable!" She picked up the clothes. "Look Reala! For little Junior…"

Clawz asked, "So, what gender do you think the baby's gonna choose?"

"Most likely female." Reala guessed. "She seems to have more feminine features."

Jackle dropped in from out of nowhere, holding a baby bottle and looking beat up. "Well, I finally got some Shleep milk, but it wasn't easy." He handed the bottle to Reala and grumbled, "Not. Easy."

Reala chuckled and fed the bottle to the baby. "Thanks, Jackle. Hey, did you get to see her yet?"

Jackle piped up and looked closely at the little Nightmaren. "Aww, she looks just like NiGHTS!" He whispered to himself, "Thank goodness, heheheh…" When he saw Reala's stern expression, he quickly added, "Oh, no offense Reala! You're beautiful on the inside!"

But Reala cracked a smile and patted Jackle's head. "I'm just glad you got over Queen Bella's rejection so fast."

Jackle adjusted his hat as he commented, "Well, if she would've told me from the start that she didn't love me, I would've stopped hitting on her!" He crossed his non-existent arms and rolled his eyes. "Girls are weird."

NiGHTS spoke up, "So, any suggestions for a name?"

Jackle suggested happily at once, "How about Mary Sue?"

"NO!" everyone else shouted at once and waved their hands in horror.

"No." Reala said firmly. "Just…no. We don't want her to become one."

Clawz added, "Yes, we better _hope_ that she doesn't."

The others muttered their agreement.

Owl observed the baby and noted, "The resemblance between her and NiGHTS is uncanny." He thought aloud, "Hmm… Anny, Banny, Canny, Danny—Hoo! If the baby chooses to be male, you can name him Danny!"

Reala grumbled, "And this is coming from an owl named Owl."

"Fine. YOU think of something." Owl huffed.

"Ok…" Reala thought hard. "Ugh, this is the first time I've named something. Usually Wizeman does that."

NiGHTS looked up thoughtfully. "Hmm…How _did_ Wizeman name us?"

Clawz looked at his own claws. "Uh, personalities? Attributes? Whatever was on his mind at the time?"

Reala suddenly looked enlightened. "I've got it! We can call her Harmony because she is the offspring of two opposing personalities that actually work well together!"

"That's…" Clawz began, nodding, "…surprisingly deep."

NiGHTS smiled. "I like it. But we have to change the spelling a bit to make it more unique."

"And have crazy capitalization!" Jackle added.

"No, we're not going that far." Warned Reala.

Then NiGHTS suggested, "How about Armonie?"

Reala rubbed his chin. "Well, it rhymes with Harmony… It's perfect!"

"Huzzah!" Owl cheered. Everyone congratulated NiGHTS and Reala on their new baby's name.

Just then, a portal opened up above them and dropped a postcard, then it closed.

NiGHTS picked up the card and saw a photo of the Nightmarens that stayed behind. "Hey, it's from the Nightmarens that stayed behind!" She turned it over and read: "_'Dear NiGHTS, Reala, Clawz, Owl, the new baby, and rest. We hope you got back to Nightopia safely, or else this postcard would've been pointless. Wizeman is still in jail for life, so he won't be trying any plans for world domination. As for us, we rented an apartment that was coincidentally near your Visitor friends. Apparently they managed to convince the cops that they weren't crazy by talking with Takashi Iizuka. They say 'hi' too. We all got a job in show business at a TV station where we do live shows and host cosplay events. Maybe we'll see you again someday. Take care of yourselves! Sincerely, us (you know who we are).'_"

Reala put his arm around NiGHTS. "Well, I'm glad they're all right. And it's good to know Wizeman won't be here to try to kill us. Again."

"I'm just wondering how they managed to send the postcard to us." Said Clawz.

"Wait, there's a PS." NiGHTS read, "_'We sent you this postcard by breaking into SEGA and using all the power in Tokyo to make the portal work. Needless to say, it caused a major blackout for the whole city, lol.'_"

Everyone looked at each other, then Reala chuckled. "I guess that is kinda funny."

Armonie stirred in her father's arms and opened her blue eyes, taking in the world around her. A small dandelion fluff landed on her face and she shook it off with a giggle.

NiGHTS gave her a kiss. "Welcome to Nightopia, Armonie."

And so concludes another journey into the real world. Now NiGHTS and her friends won't have to worry about being tricked into going back there. …Or will they?

"No we won't!" said NiGHTS quickly.

Uh, okay. NiGHTS and the others lived happily ever—

"Wait!" Jackle shouted. He waved to your screen. "GOODBYE! Ok, I'm good."

-after.

The End

**In case you didn't get the hint, I'm not doing any more Journey Into "Wherever" fics. I admit, this last one doesn't live up to the awesomeness that **_**Paris**_** had (and I'm sorry), so it's pretty clear the plot has been dragged out long enough. Besides, I need to focus on school for right now. Don't worry though, I might do more NiGHTS stories (and possibly some crossovers) in the future. Thanks so much to everyone for reading and reviewing and making my day! :)**


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